Rajeev Chandrasekhar, the Union Minister of State for Electronics and Information Technology, addressed a media report that claimed ‘a child has killed his mother under the influence of PUBG’, adding that the law enforcement agencies are looking into the incident to see what caused it. The home ministry has received complaints about blocked apps resurfacing in new shapes and forms with names that seem similar, the minister stated in a written response to the Rajya Sabha on Friday (July 22).
In response to a question on whether crimes are being perpetrated under the influence of PUBG, Chandrasekhar also informed the upper house that PUBG was outlawed in the nation by the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MEITY) in 2020. Chandrasekhar stated that LEAs (Law Enforcement Agencies) were looking into a media allegation that claimed a child had killed his mother because of the game PUBG that he had been playing.
He added that MEITY disabled the PUBG gaming app in 2020, and the game hasn’t been accessible in India since. The minister was making reference to the incident in which a 16-year-old kid who was addicted to the online game PUBG allegedly shot and killed his mother for intervening and then buried her body in home for two days. To guarantee that no one called the police, he even threatened and confined his younger sister.
He threatened his sister for two days in an attempt to cover up the crime, and he also used room freshener to mask the scent of the decaying corpse. He didn’t tell his father, an Army service member stationed in West Bengal, until the horrible smell emanating from the rotting body became intolerable. The officials found the murder weapon and the child is currently under police custody.
Home ministry to review concerns related to gaming
The minister stated that MEITY has received numerous reports and complaints alleging that restricted apps are rebranding themselves or surfacing in new avatars with the same functionality. All of these concerns, the minister added, have been referred to the home ministry for review. In response to a query on the government order to delete mobile applications and the justification for doing so starting in 2020, Chandrasekhar stated that the government’s goals are to ensure that its users have access to an open, safe, trusted, and accountable internet.
The Information Technology (Intermediary Guidelines and Digital Media Ethics Code) Rules, 2021, according to him, have been made known by the government in a separate written response. The minister added that MEITY does not keep any information regarding the removal of mobile applications under the IT Rules, 2021, but that the rules do allow for the removal of apps through the PlayStore or AppStore if they are deemed illegal under the applicable law.