Madhya Pradesh: After an 11-year-old boy committed suicide in Bhopal due to addiction to online gaming, the Home Minister of the state on Thursday said that the govt has decided to bring an act regulating online gaming. Pressing the reporters, Narottam Mishra said, “The Free Fire game that caused the tragic incident is a very serious issue. We will bring an act in Madhya Pradesh to regulate online gaming. The draft is almost ready for it. We will soon give it a concrete shape.”
This decision by the state authorities stems from the alleged suicide committed by a class 5 student on Wednesday. Suryansh Ojha, a resident of Shankaracharya Nagar Bajaria, was found hanging from the rooftop of his house in MP. Preliminary investigation revealed that the minor spent around Rs 6,000 on an online game without their permission. Parents of the deceased claim their child was addicted to online gaming.
So far, no suicide note from the spot has been recovered. However, a postmortem report indicated the boy died of strangulation, officials said on Friday. Prima facie, it appears that the boy took the extreme step because he was too involved in online games, it added.
“The cause behind the extreme step is being ascertained. However, it looks like that it just happened while playing the online game or practising some acts shown in it,” Mr Jaiswal, additional deputy commissioner of police said.