‘Blue Whale’ type games totally unacceptable: Ravi Shankar Prasad

New Delhi, August 16 (IANS/PTI): Games like Blue Whale — that has been provoking youths to commit suicide — are “completely unacceptable”, Union Electronics and Information Technology Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad said on Wednesday.

Prasad said the government has already issued instructions to all tech platforms to check the spread of “The Blue Whale Challenge”.

On July 30, a 14-year-old schoolboy Manpreet Singh Sahani allegedly walked off the fifth floor of his building in Sher-e-Punjab Colony in Andheri East in Mumbai.

Also, a former Manipur minister’s son died after falling from a terrace in Delhi and the Blue Whale game is suspected to have driven him to death. A teenager in Kerala hanged himself to death allegedly while completing a Blue Whale challenge.

“We received several complaints related to the Blue Whale game that it has been provoking youngsters to commit suicide. Clear instructions have been issued to all tech platforms to check spread of the Blue Whale game,” Prasad said.

“I appeal to all tech platforms to strictly abide by government instructions. Such a game is completely unacceptable,” the Minister said.

The government has directed technology giants, including Google, Facebook, Microsoft and Yahoo to remove all links which direct users to the dangerous online game “The Blue Whale Challenge”.

“You are hereby required to ensure that any such link of this deadly game in its own name or any similar game is immediately removed from your platform,” a letter sent by the Electronics and IT Ministry, dated August 11 and made available on Tuesday, read.

“The Blue Whale”, reportedly created by a former convict in Russia, reportedly psychologically stimulates the players to indulge in daring, self-destructive tasks for 50 days before finally taking the ‘winning’ step of killing themselves, and each task must be filmed and shared as ‘proof’.

“The proponent of Blue Whale Challenge should be reported to law enforcement agencies,” the letter said.

“The Blue Whale Challenge” has reportedly claimed the lives of over 130 boys and girls across the world so far.

According to experts, teenagers are more vulnerable because the virtual world allows them to act freely — without the restrictions prevalent in the real world — which seems to give them an adrenaline boost.

Another suicide suspected due to Blue Whale game in Kerala

Kannur: Another suspected case of suicide due to the ‘Blue Whale Challenge’ game has emerged in Kerala even as state police is yet to confirm if the recent suicides are linked to the cyber game.

The family of a 22-year-old man, who had committed suicide by hanging himself inside his home last month, today said they suspected that it was a case of ‘Blue Whale Challenge’ addiction.

The mother of one Sawant, an Industrial Training Institute student, said he had slashed his arms with a blade and the family had then thought that it was due to some depression.

He was taken for counselling many times, but his behaviour continued to be abnormal, his mother told television channels.

Sawant was addicted to some computer games for the past few months and he used to always play some games on his mobile and laptop and used to sleep in the morning after playing computer games the whole night, she said.

Once he left home saying he was going to college and was found by a relative sitting on the edge of the Thalassery beach bridge.

Thalassery police had told relatives that he must have taken the extreme step due to failure in a relationship.

He used to watch horror films on his laptop and had slashed his wrists with a blade. He had also carved out ‘SA’ on his chest using a compass.

IGP Manoj Abraham said police was unaware if anyone had downloaded the game in Kerala.

However, enquiries were on, he said.

There has been no confirmation yet if there have been any ‘Blue Whale Challenge’ deaths from the state.

Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan had on August 12 urged the Centre to take immediate steps to ban the online Blue Whale game in the country “to save precious lives”.