Cuttack, Sept. 5: Police here today rescued a 20-year-old engineering student from the jaws of Blue Whale Challenge, an online game that leads a follower to commit suicide.
Deputy commissioner of police (DCP), Cuttack, Akhileswar Singh told The Telegraph today that the youth, a native of Keonjhar and an engineering student here, was prevented from carrying on further with the tasks in the Blue Whale Challenge.
'The youth was taken into custody from the college hostel at Markatnagar on Monday night and handed over to his parents after counselling,' Singh said.
Official sources said the case came to light last evening after a friend of the student sent an SOS to the twitter account of the Commissionerate Police and sought their assistance. The rescued youth had claimed in his Facebook post that he had completed some tasks of the Blue Whale Challenge.
On getting the Tweet, the PRO wing of the police immediately passed on the message to the DCP's office in Cuttack.
'A special team traced the youth to the hostel later in the night. His parents have been asked to keep a watch on him before they took him back to Keonjhar today,' Singh said. The DCP confirmed that the student had reached the advanced stage of the Blue Whale Challenge.
The DCP refused to divulge details of the student saying, 'We are holding back his name and details to help him recover from the mental condition he had entered into provoked by the suicidal game'.
For starters, the Blue Whale Challenge is a suicidal game that derives its curious name from the beaching tendency of the world's largest animal. The challenge that ends in provoking one to commit suicide has rattled parents worldwide after incidents of deaths began to make headlines.
The problem with the game is that it is not a downloadable game, application or software that can be easily blocked. It is a social media phenomenon, accessible via networks of secretive groups. The game, which involves 50 tasks over 50 days and culminates in suicide, is mainly played on social media apps such as Instagram, online gaming groups and message boards, say cyber experts.
On August 25, police commissioner Y.B. Khurania had issued an advisory for parents to prevent their children from falling prey to the online challenge.
The move came after a Class X girl at Dhanakauda in Sambalpur district committed suicide on August 23. Though it is yet to be confirmed, the death is suspected to have had links with the Blue Whale Challenge.
In his advisory, Khurania had urged parents to use 'parental control' software to keep an eye on the online activities of their children. This will help the guardians to easily scan through the browsing history as well as the keyboard strokes made by their children on their devices. Besides, parents were also asked to monitor their children's activities on various social media platforms including WhatsApp, Facebook, Snapchat and limit apps usage and block sites promoting dangerous activities. The advisory urged people to recognise any behavioural changes in their children as they might develop suicidal thoughts particularly those who have taken up the challenge.
Earlier, the then DGP K.B. Singh had instructed all district superintendents of police to take steps for removal of the game from social media. Several schools and colleges in Bhubaneswar have been conducting awarness campaign against the online game. The government is also worried with the development and the IT minister Chandrasarathi Behera has called a meeting of experts tomorrow to formulate a strategy to tackle the challenges posed by the game.
