The Bombay High Court on Thursday asked the state and Union Government to reply to a Public Interest Litigation filed by 11-year-old Bandra resident, Ahad Nizam through his mother, seeking a ban on mobile game PUBG in schools forthwith. The sixth grader has also appealed to direct the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology to form an Online Ethics Review Committee to monitor such content from time to time. The fact that even adults were hooked on the game left the division bench of Chief Justice Naresh Patil and Justice N M Jamdar flabbergasted. "Where do they get time to play these games," they said. To the harmful impact the game has on people, the petitioner's lawyer Tanveer Nizam read out a news report that stated that a husband in his mid-30's was playing the game while his wife was about to deliver their child. The PIL states that the popular online game promotes immoral conduct such as violence, murder, aggression, looting, gaming addiction, and cyberbullying, and thus should be banned. Nizam argued that the characters of the game also use a lot of profanity which is harmful to children. The plea claimed that PUBG was banned in China for the same reasons after being accessed by its Online Ethics Review Committee, but no such thing exists in India. PUBG is also one of the most popular online games in the world as almost 400 million players play the game worldwide. PH Kantharia appearing for the state informed the court that she would be discussing the subject with concerned authorities like the Police Commissioner and also will go through orders passed by states of Gujarat and Karnataka, banning the game. Nex hearing, in this petition, will be on March 8. CRACKING THE WHIP

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