Blue Whale: A reported suicide game (Source: Twitter)
With Guwahati reportedly becoming one of the top ten cities in the world with maximum on-line search for deadly games like Blue Whale Challenge, authorities of the Kamrup (Metro) district that has jurisdiction over the capital city, on Friday constituted a committee to launch an awareness campaign against the new addiction among adolescents.
This committee, comprising of representatives from the City Police, education, health social welfare and child protection departments, also roped in several NGOs to raise awareness in the district and take preventive measures against the “infamous” game, official sources said. Members of the committee would also visit schools and colleges to create awareness, apart from counseling of children who have already fallen victims of it, sources said.
While at least two high school students have been admitted to the Guwahati Medical College Hospital after they were found injuring themselves because of the on-line game, reports have also come from several districts including Nagaon and Jorhat about adolescent children getting involved with the dangerous game.
In Guwahati, authorities of several schools have launched awareness campaigns and sent out advisories to guardians, asking them to monitor what children were watching on-line.
Earlier on Thursday, the Assam Police had issued an advisory to parents and guardians in the wake of media reports that Guwahati had emerged as one of the top ten cities across the globe where maximum searches were recorded for Blue Whale Challenge in the past 12 months. While Google Trends data has placed Kolkata on the top of the list of 10 such cities, Guwahati has been placed fourth in the global list, with San San Antonio (USA) and Nairobi (Kenya) occupying the second and third slot.
