DD to air programme on 'evil' Blue Whale game

The Supreme Court on Friday directed public broadcaster Doordarshan to prepare and run a programme to highlight the "evil impact" of life-threatening Blue Whale and other online games. It said such games cannot be permitted.

The Union government, for its part, said the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology has set up theIndian Computer Emergency Response Team to stop suchgames so that unwarranted incidents, including suicides, do not occur.

Additional Solicitor General P S Narasimha submitted before a three-judge bench headedby Chief Justice Dipak Misra that the central government was determined to stop such games as they have the potential to destroy life.

"How you do it, we are not concerned. You must stop it," the bench, also comprising Justices A M Khanwilkar and D Y Chandrachud, told Narasimha, who maintained that several communications were sent to Internet majors like Google, Facebook, WhatsApp, Instagram, Microsoft and Yahoo toremove links of these games.

As Narasimha sought three weeks toimplement the corrective steps taken by the ministries of home affairs; women and child welfare; and electronics and IT, the bench directed Doordarshan to prepare an awareness programme within a week so that the public is thoroughly instructed that a child cannot be involved in suchgames.

The programme should also be telecast on prime time on private channels as well, the bench said.