Blue Whale Challenge: Two girls run away from Agra, rescued in Madhya Pradesh

Two 14-year-old girls, who ran away from Agra in Uttar Pradesh while playing the Blue Whale Challenge game were found on the railway station in Madhya Pradesh’s Hoshangabad district

Updated on: Sep 14, 2017, 10:09:33 IST

Hindustan Times, Bhopal | By Neeraj Santoshi

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Two 14-year-old girls, who ran away from Agra in Uttar Pradesh while playing the Blue Whale Challenge game responsible for scores of deaths around the world, including India, were found on the railway station in Madhya Pradesh’s Hoshangabad district, officials have said.

The Class 9 students were spotted on Tuesday by the personnel of Government Railway Police (GRP), who called the child helpline number and handed them to the Child Welfare Committee.

The CWC’s members counselled them and during their questioning, the girls told them they were playing the stage two of the deadly game and were tasked to run away from the home. The deadly game, created by a former Russian convict, provokes players to indulge in daring, self-destructive tasks for 50 days before taking the final “winning” step of death by suicide.

Anil Jha, a senior member of the committee who questioned the girls, told the Hindustan Times over the that when they were informed about the incident, they first spoke to their parents and told them to reach Hoshangabad as soon as possible.

“They had left Agra on the Punjab Mail at 8am on Tuesday with their bags, mobile phones, and laptop. They kept their phones switched off. But when school time was over around 4.30pm, they switched on their phones. One of the girls saw a lot of miss calls and messages. Worried about what her parents might be going through, she called her brother and told him the whole story,” he said.

Jha said her brother told them to get down at the next station and that they will take them home.

“On Tuesday evening, they got down at Hoshangabad railway station and started waiting. Spotting two young girls waiting for a long time, GRP personnel found something suspicious about their body language. They apprehended them and informed the child help line,” he said.

Jha said they were produced before the CWC on Wednesday.

“We counselled them for a long time during which they opened up and revealed that they had run away from home as tasked under stage two of the Blue Whale game. Finally, their parents arrived and we handed over them to their parents after due paperwork,” he said.

Jha said it is perhaps the first case that children playing the Blue Whale game have contacted their family members.

A 16-year-old Jaipur boy, who left home as part of the last stage of the Blue Whale game, was rescued by the city police from Mumbai in August. He was tracked by the location of his mobile phone.

Three Blue Whale related incidents have been reported in the central state within the last one month. A Class 11 from Damoh district committed suicide by jumping in front of a train and two others were rescued by the police before attempting to commit suicide to complete the last challenge.

Teenagers in Kerala, Maharashtra, Uttarakhand, West Bengal, and Assam have also either killed themselves or were saved before they jumped off buildings on instruction from the game’s promoters.

The game’s growing popularity prompted the government to direct internet giants Google, Facebook, WhatsApp, Instagram, Microsoft and Yahoo to immediately remove its links.

Cyber experts and psychologists advise parents to strictly monitor teenagers playing such dangerous online games.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Neeraj Santoshi
Neeraj Santoshi is the Chief of Bureau for Hindustan Times in Uttarakhand, where he leads the state reporting team while covering government, politics, environment, wildlife, Uttarakhand High Court, and issues shaping the Himalayan region. With more than two decades in journalism across conflict zones, he has covered politically sensitive regions and environmentally fragile landscapes, and focused on stories that combine public interest with in-depth storytelling. An alumnus of Pune University with a Master’s in Communication Studies, he has reported extensively from Jammu & Kashmir (2003-2010), Madhya Pradesh (2010 to 2018 ) and Uttarakhand (Since 2018), covering subjects ranging from insurgency, elections and governance to wildlife conservation, mining, climate change, agriculture, human rights and social justice. He has covered politics and legislative assemblies of both Jammu & Kashmir and Madhya Pradesh over more than a decade. Before taking over as Chief of Bureau in Uttarakhand, he served as Special Correspondent with Hindustan Times in Madhya Pradesh and earlier reported for both Hindustan Times and The Indian Express in Jammu & Kashmir, where he covered state politics, environment and insurgency-related developments. Over the years, his stories have focused on environmental degradation, wildlife, illegal mining, governance and the changing social fabric of Himalayan states and Central India. He is particularly interested in long-form explanatory journalism, and stories that explore the intersection of ecology, conservation, governance and society. Outside the newsroom, Neeraj enjoys reading widely on neuroscience, consciousness studies, Artificial Intelligence and quantum physics, with a special interest in Kashmiri Tantric Shaivist traditions. He is also passionate about wildlife, mountaineering and the Himalayas, interests that continue to inform his reporting and deepen his understanding of the region he covers.Read More

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