Mumbai: Following the death of a 14-year-old boy in Andheri, allegedly due to participating in the online game Blue Whale Challenge, the State government is planning to request the Centre to ban the game.
On Tuesday, Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis told the Legislative Assembly that a probe will be conducted to locate the ‘master controllers’ of the game and the location of its servers, to avoid future incidents related to the game. The issue was raised in the House by senior NCP legislator and former deputy chief minister Ajit Pawar who said the incident was an “alarm bell for us”.
Mr. Fadnavis said, “We will discuss with the Centre our concerns and look for appropriate ways to ban the game. This is a serious issue. Since the game is online, we will request central help and investigate the incident.”
Police had said the online game, which originated in Russia, starts by asking participants via social media to draw a blue whale on a piece of paper. The participants are then asked to carve the whale on their body. They are given other tasks, like watching a horror movie alone, they added. The tasks have to be recorded on video and uploaded to access the next stage of the game. The final task is to commit suicide, according to reports. In Russia, more than 130 children have allegedly committed suicide in a bid to compete the game tasks. The creator of the game has been arrested and sentenced to three years in jail in Russia last month.
On Saturday, the victim had allegedly jumped to his death in a bid to complete a Blue Whale challenge. While highlighting the issue in the Lower House, Mr. Pawar said it was worrying that a game which has claimed over 100 lives all over the world, especially in Russia, has now reached Mumbai and India.
He added, “Parents must take note of this incident and similar issues concerning children. This is an alarm bell for all of us. The masters of the game give tasks that are impossible to achieve and push the players towards a suicide. The police must find out who the master of the game was when the young boy was playing.”
