Blue Whale Challenge: Gujarat chief minister Vijay Rupani orders ban on online game

Ahmedabad: Gujarat chief minister Vijay Rupani on Tuesday said his government will ban the online game ‘Blue Whale Challenge’, which allegedly incites players to commit suicide. [caption id=“attachment_3991935” align=“alignleft” width=“380”] Representational image. Firstpost[/caption] “My government has given instructions to the Home Department as well as the chief secretary to find out ways to ban this game in the state. “We have to stop this, as people are committing suicide due to this game,” he told reporters in Gandhinagar on Tuesday. He also said that if needed, the state government would bring an ordinance to ban the game in Gujarat. “Officials have been asked to expedite the process to ban the game. If needed, we may also bring an ordinance to ban it. We are totally committed to banning this game in Gujarat, as we cannot allow our children to commit suicide due to this game,” he added. The Blue Whale Challenge is reportedly a suicide game in which the players are given certain tasks to complete over a period of 50 days and the final task leads him or her to commit suicide. The player is also asked to share photos after finishing each challenge. The game has claimed several lives worldwide. Recently, a 30-year-old man from Palanpur in Banaskantha district of the state had claimed that he was ending his life as he reached the last stage of the Blue Whale Challenge. Before committing suicide by jumping into Sabarmati river on 1 September, Palanpur resident Ashok Maluna posted a video on his Facebook account, in which, he purportedly said that he had downloaded Blue Whale Challenge and suicide is the last step of that game. However, police had said Maluna ended his life under depression due to cancer and not because of the game.