Blue Whale ban: SC seeks Centre’s reply on plea

Source – indianexpress.com

The Supreme Court on Friday sought the Centre’s views on a petition demanding a ban on the controversial Blue Whale Challenge, an online game that is being blamed for many deaths. A three-judge bench headed by Chief Justice of India Dipak Misra wanted the attorney-general to assist the court in the matter. The bench asked the Centre to file its reply in three weeks. The petition filed by advocate N S Ponnaiah alleged that at least 200 people ended their lives playing the game and that most of them were teenagers. Police in Madurai, he pointed out, had confirmed that a college student, who committed suicide after playing the game, had forwarded it to over 150 friends.

He contended that the government was yet to take sufficient steps to check the menace despite the rising instances of suicides and self-inflicted injuries allegedly attributed to the influence of the game. The game “goads young people into killing themselves. The Blue Whale online game encourages people to take part in increasingly dangerous harmful dares that culminate in instructions to kill themselves,” the petition said.