Blue Whale: 12 rescued, alert sounded across Assam

The Assam Police have alerted all the Superintendents of Police in the state to take measures to stop the spread of the macabre online game Blue Whale Challenge after 12 youths were rescued in the nick of time.

The police also organised awareness meetings involving parents and school authorities, state Parliamentary Affairs Minister Chandra Mohan Patowary told the state assembly on Wednesday.

The Minister was replying to Asom Gana Parishad (AGP) leader and former Chief Minister Prafulla Kumar Mahanta who had asked what action the government was taking to curb the spread of the game.

"Assam Police have so far rescued 12 youths of the state who had become victims of the online game, who were on the verge of playing the final stage," Patowary said.

"While four victims of the games were rescued from Guwahati, four others were rescued from Nagaon district. Apart from these, two fell victim to the game in Baksa district followed by one each in Tezpur and Dhemaji."

"The police have also organised meetings with the internet service providers across the state and instructions were issued to them on ways and means to stop the spread of the game," the Minister said.

He said the police have asked the school and college authorities in Guwahati to continuously organise awareness drives in their respective campuses to make the students and children aware about the negative aspect of the game.

"Recently some cyber security experts of the state have organised an awareness drive in Don Bosco school in Guwahati which saw participation by over 800 students."

"The Assam Police have also asked the Superintendents of Police to get all the technical help from cyber cell of the CID (Criminal Investigation Department) to carry out awareness drive against the game, which has killed many youths across the world," Patowary said.

He said the game is not available on social networking sites like Facebook and WhatsApp but can be accessed through sharing some secret links.

A participant is asked to complete 50 tasks which include carving out the shape of a blue whale on one's arm, jumping from running trains, cycling for several hours after midnight, with the final task being committing suicide.

--IANS

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