SC notice to Centre on plea to ban Blue Whale: 

SC notice to Centre on plea to ban Blue Whale: 

Context

• The Supreme Court has asked the government to respond to a petition for an immediate direction to ban online game ‘Blue Whale.’

Why is the game getting banned?

• The game ‘Blue Whale’ is suspected to be behind the deaths or attempted suicides of teenagers and young adults hooked to it.
• The blue whale on-line game encourages people to take part in increasingly dangerous harmful dares that finally culminate in instructions by the administrators to kill themselves.

What did Supreme Court decide?

• The Bench issued notice to the government on a petition by advocate C.R. Jaya Sukin, representing another lawyer N.S. Ponnaiah, who wanted the government to take immediate steps to spread awareness about the dangers of playing the game and end its availability online.
• The court asked Attorney-General K.K. Venugopal to assist the court.

What were the arguments given?

• Mr. Sukin argued that till now government has not taken any sufficient steps even when the number of cases of self-inflicted injuries and suicides were increasing.
• The petition said the game had spread its tentacles across the cities and was enticing even school students to play.