Madhya Pradesh to enact law to regulate online gaming after 11-year-old's alleged suicide

Madhya Pradesh Home Minister Narottam Mishra on Thursday announced that the state government will bring an act to regulate online games after an 11-year-old boy allegedly committed suicide by hanging himself in Bhopal due to his addiction to an online mobile game. Earlier in August, the state government had also filed a police case against the developers of the online game- Free Fire. 

The state home minister added that the draft for the law is almost ready and will be soon enacted:

11-year-old dies due to online game addiction

Earlier on Wednesday, a 11-year-old boy had allegedly committed suicide by hanging himself with the rope of the punching bag installed at the rooftop of his house in Madhya Pradesh's Bhopal, said police.

In a statement, Bhopal's Additional Commissioner of Police Sachin Atulkar said, "A minor allegedly committed suicide and was found dead at his residence. As per his parents, the minor spent around Rs 6,000 on an online game without their permission. Parents had deleted the app once. The probe is underway."

The police also added that the victim identified as Suryansh was found hanging from a rope used to hang punching bags by his cousin Ayush. "The relatives immediately took him to the private hospital but the doctor declared him dead after checking," added police. 

FIR against Free Fire game as children lose lives

In August 2021, an FIR was registered in Chhatarpur against the company which developed this game. Home Minister Narottam Mishra, at that time, had directed police across the state to take action against the developers of such addictive games, which are disorientating the young generation and playing with their lives.

"We have sought the state Law department's opinion to initiate legal action against such companies," added Mishra. 

During that time, the child who ended his life, in his suicide note, had sought forgiveness from his mother for withdrawing ₹40,000 from her UPI account and losing it in Free Fire sessions, police had said. 

Before this incident, a 12-year-old boy had ended his life in Dhana in Sagar district in January 2021 after his father took away his mobile phone over the former's addiction to the Free Fire game.

(With ANI inputs)