CID files SOS to education department
The Criminal Investigation Department (CID), of J&K Police has asked the school education department to impart awareness and knowledge to students about ‘Blue Whale suicide challenge’ game which has resulted in dozens of suicidal cases across globe.
In a letter shot to secretary school education department by inspector general of police (CID department), police has apprehended that teenagers having broader social media base may become vulnerable and prone to such traps.
“Since Jammu and Kashmir has a broader social media base comprising of majority of teenagers who are more vulnerable and prone to such traps, it is advised that the department of education may be asked to impart awareness and knowledge of such fatal media traps to students,” reads the letter shot to secretary school education.
Police has asked the department to advise school going children not to follow the crowd and not feel pressured into doing anything that makes them unsafe.
“Parents shall also be advised to talk to their children and counsel them to prevent any untoward incident,” reads the letter.
In the letter, CID has stressed that the game-Blue Whale ‘suicidal challenge’ can reach a young teenager on social media sites if they endorse certain ‘hashtags’ and get involved in some groups.
“When the player signs up for the game, she or he is assigned an administrator who provides them with a daily task to complete for 50 days, of which they must send photographic proof of completion,” reads the letter explaining the stages of the game.
Reportedly, the “The Blue Whale’- A suicide game, is getting popular among social media users especially teenagers through different social media platforms.
Blue Whale is a twisted suicide challenge that appeals to prod vulnerable teens into killing themselves.
The horrifyingly dangerous game has been linked to hundreds of teen’s deaths across the globe and it has already made inroads into India having a large population of social media users. The game is played via many social media platforms.
The Blue Whale Suicide game is believed to be a social media group when the player is encouraging people to kill themselves. It is thought a group administrator assigns daily tasks to members, which they have to complete over 50 days.
The horrific tasks which are self harming, watching horror movies and waking up at unusual hours but these gradually get more extreme.
On the 50th day the controlling manipulators behind the game reportedly instruct the youngsters to commit suicide.
“Those who hesitate in performing dares are threatened that administrator possesses their information and would bring harm to them or their loved ones.”
Blue Whale Challange’ has claimed several lives of children in India as well as in several other countries. In India so far three cases of suicide have already been reported from different parts of India.
The first death was reported in Mumbai where a fourteen-year-old boy committed suicide by jumping off a seven-story building in Andheri, Mumbai. The Class 9 student’s suicide was said to be linked to the Blue Whale Challenge.
Fifteen-year-old Kolkatta boy was another victim of the game who killed himself by suffocating. Alarms were raised when the teenager went to take a bath but did not come out for a long time. When the family broke into the bathroom the boy was found lying on the floor, dead. His face was wrapped in a plastic sheet and he had a towel wrapped around his body.
Sixteen -year-old Manoj from Kerala was the third victim of the dreadful game who hanged himself to death on July 26. Day before his death, Manoj’s mother told police the she suspects that he son had taken up the Blue Whale Challenge and it could be the reason behind her son’s death.
Apart from cases of suicides, there have been reports of teenagers being stopped from committing suicide.
A Class 7 kid in Indore’s Chameli Devi School was stopped from jumping off the school’s third floor. On further questioning, the kid revealed that he had been playing the Blue Whale Challenge on his father’s mobile.
A similar case was reported from Dehradun, where a Class 5 student was stopped from committing suicide after noticing unusual behaviour.
The Blue Whale began in Russia in 2013 with “F57”, one of the names of the so-called “death group” of the VKontakte social network,[3] and allegedly caused its first suicide in 2015.
Philipp Budeikin, a former psychology student who was expelled from his university, claimed that he invented the game. Budeikin stated that his purpose was to “clean” the society by pushing to suicide those he deemed as having no value.
KV Correspondent
