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Kerala: Boy commits suicide, Police suspect gaming addiction

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Police suspect the 12-year-old boy found hanging in his home in Idukki on Sunday might have committed suicide over his addiction to gaming, reported Times of India. The parents were out when the incident occurred. Police who are probing the death have found some English code words written on the wall and a book from the home and suspect that the child was addicted to online games.

 In September 2021, Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan had announced the setting up of digital de-addiction centers with the help of the police’s Cyberdome to keep children away from the dangers of online games. However, the project is yet to be implemented.

Nedumkandam police station SHO CS Binu said that as per the primary information the boy was addicted to mobile phone and was using the gadget of his parents. “The parents of the boy are deaf and dumb and we are yet to recover the mobile phone from the home. We will collect the phone of the parents and then conduct a detailed probe. Some English code words were found in a book and on the wall. The English words colour, better, wish, father, show, blue were written on the wall using a chalk and in a book using a pen. We will probe any related mobile game addiction behind the death,” he said.

“The initial probe has ruled out any family issues,” Binu said. “The child protection unit has directed the police to probe whether the boy’s mobile game addiction led to the suicide,” Idukki district child protection officer Geeta said.

Officials said for the past year nearly 10 students under 16 years of age have committed suicide in the district. In a similar incident in November, a teenage student who lost money in online games was found dead in a pond near Irinjalakuda in Thrissur.

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