Soon the only thing you would be left with is a picture of me,” was the chilling message left behind on his Facebook page by a 14-year-old schoolboy from Mumbai moments before he eased himself off the seventh floor ledge of his building to a bloody death below.
The ninth grade pupil was not suicidal, neither was he given to depression or mood swings. He was a bright child with normal behaviour, until, that is, he got inextricably ensnared by this dark savage online “game” that borrows its name from the magnificent deep-sea mammal called blue whale.
The boy had spent two whole days searching for ways to end his life before he became India’s first fatal case of the ‘blue whale challenge’ that incites credulous children into committing suicide. He had also messaged his classmates that he would not be attending school from the following week. A neighbour had seen him walking on the edge of the terrace and called out to him. Getting no response, he had rushed to the terrace only to find to his horror that the boy had jumped by then. The mobile phone left behind had a photo taken by the lad, showing his legs dangling from the ledge with the concrete driveway seven storeys below.
Many youngsters, mostly teenagers, have since been pushed over the edge by this game, as in Kerala, Pune, Indore and Dehradun, but a 22-year-old from Puducherry in south India was one of the more fortunate victims who could extricate themselves from this game before they took the final step. Drawn into the blue whale challenge through a link he had received from a WhatsApp group, the youth says that once ensnared, the victims find it almost impossible to withdraw. “It is a virtual death trap where one goes through a traumatising experience and even those seeking adventure get mentally affected,” he remarks. “The tasks given by the blue whale administrator are to be completed before dawn, the first few days requiring the posting of personal details and photographs that are collected by admin.”
The youth says he was so consumed by the game that he left his job to devote all his attention to the blue whale tasks he was assigned. Fortunately for him, his brother noticed changes in his behaviour and informed the police about his probable involvement in the blue whale game. The police closed in on him at 3 am one morning when he was about to etch the whale symbol on his arm with a knife. “I went to the Akkaraivattam graveyard around midnight, took a selfie and posted it online, and had to watch horror movies alone everyday, as the idea is to make victims shun fear,” he confesses. “It was mentally very taxing as I avoided talking to people at home and remained confined to my room.”…Click HERE to read full article.
