After the death of Manpreet Sahans who committed suicide by jumping from the seventh floor of his residence in Andheri (E) Mumbai Police have asked parents to monitor the online behaviour of their children. Police are probing to ascertain whether Manpreet had ended his life after playing online game Blue Whale Challenge. They are also examining his whatsapp chats where there is some mention about his death might be linked to blue whale challenge suicide. Technology might have definitely made our lives easier but it has come with its share of disadvantages too.
Today children are glued to their mobile phones and laptops and seldom interact with their parents. Even parents are busy with their professional lives and are unable to spend quality time with their children. They offer expensive gadgets to children to compensate for their inability to spend time with them. Therefore psychologists have urged parents to monitor their children’s online activities. If they are finding anything suspicious about their behaviour then they must take necessary action.
“The death of Manpreet Sahans is a wake up call for all the parents. Today parents don’t have time to interact with their children and often they are busy with their professional lives. Most of the time, children are alone in the house as they remain glued to their gadgets,” said a psychologist on the condition of anonymity.
“Since children these days have easy access to technology they tend to adopt them easily. Therefore it is necessary for parents to provide proper guidance to students about the advantages and disadvantages of technology. Technology is definitely a boon but it can’t completely eliminate human interface which is necessary in today’s world where people tend to become isolated,” he added.
Sahans was studying in ninth standard at an international school in Andheri. He aspired to become a pilot and was keen to go to Russia for undergoing training. Russia is the country from where the game Blue Whale Challenge has originated. The game is believed to have psychologically manipulated teenage girls to end their lives. It has already claimed more than 100 lives in Russia and U.K.
A week prior to committing suicide Sahans’ behaviour had undergone a complete change. His parents are surprised about his death as they never thought that he would take this drastic step. The cops have filed an Accidental Death Report (ADR).
Pandurang Patil, senior police inspector of Meghwadi police station said, “A team has been sent to the school to talk to the child’s friends, and to understand what possibly led to the unfortunate event.”
