It is for the government to come out with a policy decision after due research and study, the court added.

Even while conceding with the petitioner that there was no doubt that children and young adults were addicted to their mobile phones and their world appears to revolve around it, the first bench comprising Chief Justice Sanjib Banerjee and Justice Senthilkumar Ramamoorthy said, “The courts should be slow in entering into such areas on the personal sense of morality of the individual complainant or the judge or judges concerned. There is no doubt that when there is some illegal action or something which is detrimental to the larger public interest, courts intervene.”It also noted that especially when elected governments are in place, such matters of policy should be left to the wisdom of those representing the people instead of the court issuing a diktat. “Only upon the failure of the executive to act and thereupon the court perceives the matter to be a danger to society, the court steps in,” Chief Justice Banerjee leading the bench said while disposing of the plea.

When the counsel appearing for the petitioner got emotional while explaining how her two children were glued to their computers, the Chief Justice observed that sometimes those from the older generation also needed counselling on how to treat the children.

“We cannot be fixed in our ideas. They, unlike us, don’t have their evenings free and are pushed to aspire for some career and keep them constantly engaged in studies,” the Chief Justice noted while allowing the petitioner to approach the Centre through the Ministry of Child Welfare and the State government.

“The intricacies of the menace that the petitioner speaks of and the larger or longer time effects that these online games have on young adults have not been gone into in detail in these proceedings. But nothing in order prevents carrying such complaints even to this court if appropriate executive action thereon is not forthcoming,” the bench added.