Gujarat police have arrested ten students, including six college students in Rajkot for allegedly playing the PUBG game on their mobile phones despite the police banning it.
According to reports, the arrests on Wednesday in Rajkot comes a week after Rajkot Police had issued a notification banning PUBG over concerns about its impact on the “behavior, conduct and language” of those playing it. Police Commissioner Manoj Agrawal on March 6 had issued a notification banning the online games PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds (PUBG) and ‘Momo Challenge’ in the city.
Presently, the ban has been enforced until April 30 as most students would be busy preparing for exams.
“Our team caught these youths red-handed. They were taken into custody after they were found playing the PUBG game. We have registered two cases against them under IPC Section 188 for violating the notification issued by Police Commissioner and under Section 35 of the Gujarat Police Act,” said Special Operations Group (SOG) police inspector Rohit Raval.
However, the booked persons have been released on bail later on the same day, police inspector VS Vanzara said on Thursday. Reportedly, Inspector Rohit Raval said that the game was “highly addictive and the accused were so engrossed in playing that they did not even see police approaching.”
Gujarat is the first and the only state to ban the game which has been downloaded more than 100 million times around the world.
Several concerns have been raised across the world regarding the addictive nature of the game, which also has a tendency to push children towards violent behavior. Parents and educators say the game incites violence and distracts students from their studies.
Recently, a mother had complained to Prime Minister Narendra Modi while interacting at the “Pariksha Pe Charcha” along with nearly 2,000 students from high school to college. During the interaction, a concerned mother had complained to the Prime Minister that her son was avoiding studies and addicted to online games. To her question, PM Modi had replied: “Yeh PUBG-wala hai kya? (is he a PUBG gamer?)”
Goa Information Technology Minister Rohan Khaunte had also recently described PUBG as “a demon in every house” and stated that students were engrossed in playing it and neglecting their studies.
PUBG is an online multiplayer battle game developed by a South Korean firm and is a best-seller in the online gaming market.
