Blue Whale Challenge: Odisha Police issues advisory to cops, parents and teachers to combat menace

Bhubaneswar: A day after rescuing a boy from the clutches of the “Blue Whale Challange Game”, Odisha police on Wednesday issued guidelines for cops, parents, and teachers to combat the menace. DGP RP Sharma, while reviewing the situation at the state police headquarters in Cuttack, issued guidelines on how to divert the attention of the teen aged children from the online game. The crime branch of Odisha police has meanwhile issued guidelines to all the Superintendents of Police (SPs) and Deputy Commissioners of Police (DCPs) in the state. [caption id=“attachment_4015579” align=“alignleft” width=“380”] Representational image. Reuters[/caption] Sharma said the district police authorities were told to instruct the police station in-charge officers to conduct meetings in schools and college. The IICs/OICs have been instructed to quickly respond to reports associated with the on line game and take immediate steps to identify the links/mobile applications/web based applications containing Blue Whale Challenge game and furnish the same to the CID crime branch for taking prompt steps in removing those links from the Internet. The police have also been instructed to conduct frequent checking at cyber cafes and their computer systems for availability of any link/website (from internet search history) pertaining to various on line games like – Blue Whale Challenge, A Quiet House, A Silent House, A Sea of Whales, Wake Me Up at 4:20 am and take immediate steps to remove those links and format the computer systems. The principals and headmasters have been urged to convene parents-teachers meetings to sensitise the parents and launch an awareness campaign among the students in their educational institutions. A review of case studies related to the game revealed certain signs and symptoms noticed in the behavioural pattern of victims of this on line game which the parents and teachers should take note of. If the teenagers are seemingly lost, lonely and depressed, parents must take serious and immediate action to get them involved socially in the real world and divert their mind by providing activities or giving them something new to learn, the guideline for the parents said. The Blue Whale Challenge is an on line game in which the player is given certain tasks to complete for a period of 50 days and the final task leads to the player committing suicide. The player is also asked to share photos after finishing each challenge.