As many as 20 students of Class 8 to 10 of Kendriya Vidyalaya school in Karnataka's Belagavi were found with cut marks on their arms. While the students claimed that they had sustained bruises upon falling off their bicycles, the teachers soon cracked the lie.
Ravindra Uppar reports for The Times of India that the students admitted to have been influenced by the Blue Whale challenge, that is suspected to have been responsible for the suicide of a few teenagers across the country.
According to the report, cut marks were found on the arms of 16 boys and 4 girl students.
However, upon questioning, the students reportedly confessed that they were not playing the game, but made markings on their arm merely to boast to their classmates.
“I questioned the students at length and found that the cut marks were nothing but a bid to attract the attention of fellow students," principal Arun Kumar Singh told TOI.
The Blue Whale challenge involves 50 tasks curated by an administrator, that all players are supposed to follow. This includes tasks such as waking up at odd hours, watching horror videos, listening to music curated by the administrator, visit beaches and cemeteries alone, etc. The final task is to jump off a building a take their own lives.
All the 20 students caught having bruises on the arm were sent for professional counselling and their parents asked to monitor their ward's activities.
Following the incident, the school authorities have decided to strengthen the awareness drives in all classes, to educate the students of the dangers of the game.
Earlier last month, Deccan Herald had reported about a Class 6 girl student in Hubbali, who had cut her finger, allegedly as part of playing the game. She was later given counselling.