The Madras High Court on Monday told the central and Tamil Nadu governments to look at banning the Blue Whale Challenge, an online game linked to numerous suicides, ANI reported. It also told the Tamil Nadu police to take strict action against those sharing the game.
The bench told the state and central governments to respond by September 8 to its direction to remove the game’s links from social media. The court also stressed the need for institutions to raise awareness among students of “dangerous” online games.
On September 1, the court said it would take “deadly” action against the Blue Whale Challenge after advocate Krishnamurthy asked it to direct the Union Information and Broadcasting Ministry to ban such games.
A 19-year-old college student in Tamil Nadu’s Madurai district committed suicide on August 31 after doing Blue Whale challenges for 50 days. It was the first case of its kind to be reported in the state.