PUBG should be banned or not? Experts divided over PUBG ban controversy in India

Over last few weeks, re has been a growing animosity against Player Unkwn's Battlegrounds popularly kwn as PUBG in India. If year 2018 was all about celebrating PUBG Mobile's success in country, well, year 2019 is all about demanding a ban on game.

re are many angles to PUBG ban controversy in India and most important thing that we all need to dress is diction among those who play game. Or than that, re is a growing discomfort among parents because of PUBG. re are also cases of aggression among players who tend to get violent and reckless at times.

We have heard about so many cases where people were aggressive in terms of t just gameplay but also outside of game like in this case.

Achyuta Rao, president of a children’s vocacy group in Hyderab, said he wrote a letter to National Commission for Protection of Child Rights, a government ncy, asking it to encour city authorities to ban game, citing death of a 21-year-old man in late March who h played PUBG almost n-stop for four days.

“Children are dicted and it is causing psychological disturbances. Horrible ims infiltrate ir minds and cause verse effects. Only a national ban will have a positive result,” Rao told AP.

Dr. Rhika Acharya, a clinical psychologist in Hyderab, said she also supports a ban.

She described a teen patient who locks himself up in his room for hours to play game, threatening to kill his parents if y interrupt him.

“PUBG desensitizes young people and dams ir emotional development. It is all about linking success to violence and inflicting pain. It has a very negative effect on children, olescents and even older people,” she said.

Avid player Anirudh Ishaan, 23, said game is “extremely dictive” and a source of conflict with his parents, but didn’t think it should be banned or be grounds for an arrest.

“Banning game is a very extreme step,” he said. “You can take a middle path, or a moderate step, but how can you call someone who is playing a video game a criminal? We are t doing anything illegal.”

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PUBG Mobile’s Indian distributor Tencent said last month that it was “working to understand legal basis of such bans,” and hoped to convince Indian authorities to withdraw m.

In China, however, PUBG Mobile bowed to demands of authorities, installing a digital lock that keeps children under 13 from game.

Some observers do t think bans in India will survive a legal challenge.

Internet Freedom Foundation in New Delhi has filed a petition in Gujarat High Court asking for bans to be declared unconstitutional and for criminal charges against two dozen defendants, whose identities have t been disclosed, to be dropped.

“If you curb someone’s freedom, you have to have logical reasoning and a legal basis. You need to support your claim that game les to violence and hatred with reasoning inste of this kind of arbitrary ban which deprives people of ir freedom,” said Karnika Seth, a lawyer in New Delhi.

Gujarati city of Ahmedab has alrey revoked its ban, according to reports.

two dozen people who have been arrested in Gujrat could face up to six months in jail. However, Maj Agrawal, police commissioner of Rajkot, a district in Gujarat where most of young people were charged, thinks it unlikely that such a stiff sentence would be imposed.

“It’s more likely that y will be given a warning by court that y must follow law of land,” Agrawal said.

(With AP inputs)