Minor kills self after mother chided him for PUBG craze

A 17-year old committed suicide after the mother scolded him for playing too much PlayerUnknown's Battlegrounds (PUBG) Mobile game on his phone.

The victim is a resident of Jind, Haryana. He apparently lost interest in studies after clearing the Class X exam last year and was addicted to the PUBG Mobile. The parents were concerned about the future of their ward and urged him to concentrate on his studies but to no avail.

His mother took away his mobile; this apparently enraged the boy and took an extreme step to kill himself.

"I was on duty on Saturday evening when my wife found him and snatched his mobile phone. She found him hanging in the room the next morning," the father, a policeman said to Times of India.

In a related development, a 15-year old, earlier in the month killed his elder brother Mohammad Shaikh (19) just for scolding the former for PUBG Mobile craze.

The minor boy banged the head of Shaikh against the wall and stabbed him repeatedly with scissors. The victim was rushed to the nearby government hospital where he was declared brought dead.

A case was registered under section 302 (Punishment for murder) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) against the culprit and is now in a juvenile detention center.

These are not rare instances, there is a significant rise in cases of delinquencies and also deaths due to PUBG Mobile and also TikTok craze among youth particularly in India.

In 2018, a 16-year old kid stole Rs 50,000 from his father debit card to make in-app purchases on PUBG Mobile.

In another recent incident, an up and coming 23-year old dancer in Tumkur fractured his spinal cord doing a stunt on TikTok video sharing platform. A few days later, he died to due to complications in the medical condition.

In April, TikTok was taken off from both the Google Play and Apple App store for a few days, after Madras High Court urged the central government to ban the video-sharing application in India.

Several Public Integration Litigations (PILs) were filed in the court, as many accused TikTok not taking steps to prevent the unabated circulation of vulgar content on its video sharing platform. The most serious charge included kids getting access to these age-inappropriate clips.

TikTok app on Apple App Store

PUBG Mobile too was temporarily banned in select cities in India during the academic year-end exams (April and May). The ban was limited to in and around school premises so that the students concentrate on studies.

Many children and young adults have been reported to be admitted to Services for Healthy Use of Technology (SHUT) clinic in the National Institute of Mental Health and Neuro Sciences (NIMHANS) for rehab on PUBG Mobile and other related addiction.

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