After issuing a statement on banning the online mobile game PUBG on March 14, Ahmedabad police has now decided to lift the ban after a huge objection on social media criticising it. Around 20 people were reportedly arrested in Ahmedabad, Rajkot and Vadodara.
After taking feedback from the public on Wednesday, the city police commissioner A K Singh decided that they shouldn’t continue the ban. The commissioner said, “Today is the last day of the proclamation we had issued. Yesterday, this matter came up for review and we decided that as the exam session is over and the direct trigger to initiating the action is not valid any more, we will not renew the proclamation. We have also taken public reaction into account.”
The Ahmedabad police also discussed with the home department regarding the matter.
“However, we are still concerned about the matter, as we are coming across extreme use of the game. We have decided to take more aggressive affirmative action. Maybe we will initiate a discussion and helpline services to provoke various resources in the civil society to form. One of the major reactions of society against our ban was that we shouldn’t act like a ‘Nani State’. But the state needs a Nani. If we don’t act like a Nani state, who will perform the role of taking care?” Singh added.
Earlier, the Gujarat government had banned the popular mobile game PUBG from primary
schools. Some academic institutions had claimed a direct correlation between the violent game and the mental health of kids. Meanwhile, PUBG has also decided to implement digital lock for its users under 13 years of age. The digital lock system will lock out players under the age of 13 and they would have to ask their guardians to open the game for them. PUBG recently celebrated its first anniversary in March 2019. Launched in March 2018 in India,
PUBG Mobile has become the most downloaded game in the Play Store.