While the popular online game PUBG has been the favourite pastime of youth around the globe, but an eleven-year-old boy has moved the Bombay High Court on Thursday seeking a ban on the mobile game PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds or ‘PUBG’.
Ahad Nizam, who filed the public interest litigation (PIL) through his mother saying that the game promotes violence, aggression and cyber-bullying. The PIL asked the court to direct the Maharashtra government to ban it.
Earlier, a students union from Jammu and Kashmir, as well as National Commission for Protection of Child Rights, had also asked for a ban on the game.
“The petition has also sought a direction to the central government to form an Online Ethics Review Committee for periodical checking of such violence-oriented online content,” petitioner’s lawyer Tanveer Nizam was quoted in a report.
It is likely to come up for hearing before a division bench headed by Chief Justice N H Patil. PUBG or ‘PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds’ is an online game where 100 players fight it out in free for all combat where the sole survivor wins.
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While the PIL mentions PUBG, it’s safe to say it’s referring to PUBG Mobile, this is the version of the game on Android and iOS that’s the most popular in India, to the point where it was name-dropped by Prime Minister Narendra Modi during his interaction with students and parents about exam stress a few days back.
PUBG Mobile is developed, published, and distributed by the Chinese Internet giant Tencent. Outside of China, the game has amassed over 200 million downloads and has 30 million daily active users.
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Meanwhile, recently, the Gujarat government issued circular asking district authorities to ensure a ban on the game.
The state primary education department’s circular was issued after a recommendation by the Gujarat State Commission for Protection of Child Rights, said officials.
The circular directed District Primary Education Officers to take the necessary steps to enforce a ban on the game in primary schools.