GUWAHATI, Aug 29 - A 16-year-old boy was admitted at the Gauhati Medical College & Hospital with physical injuries apparently inflicted by the boy himself while playing the �Blue Whale� online game.
�The parents brought the boy to the hospital yesterday. We have admitted him. He has physical injuries. Besides treating him, counselling is also being done,� a source in the GMCH said.
Sources said there were cut marks on the boy�s wrists. The boy, hailing from the Narengi area, is a student of Class X of a city school.
GMCH Superintendent Dr Ramen Talukdar meanwhile appealed for parental guidance and asked guardians to safeguard their wards from playing the game and monitor their social media activity.
The online challenge game originated in Russia and presents players with a list of formidable tasks to be completed in 50 days; the final assignment is suicide. It has been linked to several teenage deaths.
The Central government has asked major online players including Google, Facebook and WhatsApp to ensure that they remove links that lead to or promote the game.
However, IT experts say there is nothing much the government or police can do to stop the spread of the �Blue Whale� challenge. Since the players share their personal phone numbers and email addresses, the developers keep using different psychological tactics to get them back by sending mails and messages.
