As the Blue Whale Challenge seems to be causing distress all over the world, India isn't far behind. Numerous suicide cases have been linked to the online game in the last few weeks and it has now been found that quite a few Indians have been googling the game. While internet users may have googled the game just to read more about it, the fact that numerous teens have taken their lives cannot be ignored.
According to the results of Google Trends, India was the third country that searched for the Blue Whale Challenge online in the last 12 months and more people have googled the game in the last one month. While India may be third, in terms of cities globally, internet users in Kolkata searched the game the most, reported the Times of India.
Kolkata is followed by San Antonio, Nairobi, Guwahati, Chennai, Bengaluru Mumbai, New Delhi, Howrah, and Paris. The most searched terms are "blue whale challenge game," "the whale game," "blue whale game download," "blue whale apk," and "blue whale suicide challenge."
The game, which is said to have originated in Russia, has spread the world over with numerous teens and young adults falling prey to it. In India itself there have been numerous suicide cases, the latest being a 13-year-old in Uttar Pradesh's Hamirpur district.
Parth Singh, a class six student of Jaipuria Public School, was found hanging in his bedroom in Maudaha village on Sunday, August 27, night and apparently committed suicide as part of the online game. The police said that Parth had his father's phone in his hand, in which the game was on. This was noticed when the body of the boy was being taken down.
The game's title is derived from blue whales that are often believed to strand themselves on beaches in a bid to commit suicide. The challenge is taken online and a self-harm group encourages teens to commit suicide. The group administrator assigns daily tasks to the members over a period of 50 days. While the tasks initially involve watching horror movies and self-harm, they get creepier by the day eventually encouraging the member to commit suicide on the 50th day.
The challenge was created by Philipp Budeikin, a Russian, who said that he had convinced about 16 girls to end their lives.
"Do something beautiful at least once in your life, it is so good to die young. Life is awful, it will not get better. You are rare, a selected one," is what he told his victims, according to Metro UK. However, Budeikin, 21, seems to have no remorse and instead explained that he was "cleansing the society" of "biological waste" who were "happy to die."
Currently lodged in the Kresty Jail in St Petersburg, Budeikin was asked if he really did drive these girls to suicide and he said: "Yes. I truly was doing that. Don't worry, you'll understand everything. Everyone will understand." Revealing that he even got tonnes of love letters from young girls he added: "They were dying happy. I was giving them what they didn't have in real life: warmth, understanding, connections."
