Madhya Pradesh govt to enforce law for regulating online gaming after Bhopal minor commits suicide
The Madhya Pradesh government has taken this decision in view of increasing cases of children losing their lives due to online game addiction. At least three such cases have been reported in the state in the last year.
Madhya Pradesh Home Minister Narottam Mishra on Thursday announced that the state government will soon enforce a law in the state for regulating online gaming for children.
Reportedly, this comes after an 11-year-old boy from Bhopal allegedly committed suicide by hanging himself over his addiction to online games on Wednesday.
As per reports by India TV, the Home Minister said, “Online games are a serious issue. To prevent such tragic incidents, we are bringing an act regulating online gaming in Madhya Pradesh, whose draft has been prepared and we will soon finalise it."
11-year-old commits suicide
In a recent tragic incident reported on Wednesday, an 11-year-old boy, identified as Suryansh Ojha allegedly committed suicide by hanging himself with the rope of a punching bag installed on the rooftop of his house in Shankaracharya Nagar Bajaria, Bhopal.
Upon investigation, it was found that the boy committed suicide after his parents deleted his favourite gaming app to which he was addicted.
As per reports by Republic World, Bhopal's Additional Commissioner of Police Sachin Atulkar said, "A minor allegedly committed suicide and was found dead at his residence. As per his parents, the minor spent around Rs 6,000 on an online game without their permission. Parents had deleted the app once. The probe is underway."
Children losing lives over online games
Unfortunately, the Bhopal incident is not the only incident of children losing lives due to online game addiction.
According to a report published by the Republic World, at least three such incidents have been reported in the last 1 year.
Earlier in August, the state government had also filed a police case against the developers of the online game- Free Fire, for creating such addictive games for which children are putting their lives at stake.
READ MORE| Mumbai teen who fled home due to gaming addiction reunited with family
READ MORE| Why does Sushil Modi want to regulate online gaming?