No more PUBG in Rajkot, top Gujarat police bans popular game

Rajkot Police Commissioner Manoj Agrawal on Wednesday issued a notification to ban PUBG ( PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds), a popular mobile game. The decision was taken to curb increasing violence amongst children addicted to the game.

As per the notice, the ban will be implemented in Rajkot from March 9 to April 30. As per police, anyone can file a complaint and inform the nearest police station against people playing the game and strict action will be taken against them under Central Government Act under Section 188.

A similar notification was issued regarding ‘Momo Challenge’. The ‘Momo’ account shares a series of challenges (read activities) that needs to be completed to finally meet the ‘Momo’.

Most of these tasks, according to reports, involve violent acts that end with suicide. If someone refuses to follow the instructions, the Momo intimidate them with dire consequences.

Manoj Agrawal, Police Commissioner of Rajkot said, “We issued the notification against both the games. Due to increasing violent behaviour of children and the youth, who were addictive to the game, we have imposed the ban.”

On January 23, the Gujarat government wrote to the central government to put a permanent ban over the mobile application PUBG.

State education minister Bhupendrasinh Chudasama wrote letters addressing to the ministry of Human Resource Development, Electronics and Information Technology and home in central government.

The education department has asked to distribute the circular in schools, asking them to counsel the kids and tell them to stay from the game. The parents were also asked to be vigilant.

Earlier, the Children’s Right Protection Commission chairperson, Jagruti Pandya, wrote to the education minister seeking the ban.