A PIL has been filed in the Gujarat High Court against Nintendo’s Pokemon Go game for “hurting religious sentiments”. How did Pokemon Go manage to do this? By displaying eggs in places of worship for its crazed fans to find!
The petitioner, Alay Dave, has said that eggs, even if they appear on screen, are not to be treated lightly since they are non-vegetarian and therefore blasphemous. He also believes that playing Pokemon Go could cause threat of life and limb to the players (nothing about their mental state though) and wants the game to be banned in India.
If you find it hard to imagine that a 2D egg could cause offence, you might be surprised to know that Pokemon Go has had a run in with the law in other countries, too. From Saudi Arabia (no prizes for guessing this) to Australia.
Saudi Arabia believes that Pokemon Go “encourages gambling and polytheism” and there’s a fatwa in place against playing it.
In Russia, a 22-year-old blogger who played the game in Church and filmed himself doing it could end up spending five years in jail.
The Australian police has cautioned players about trespassing. Just because they see a pikachu somewhere, they cannot break into someone’s home with Pokemon as an excuse.
The cops in Portugal have issued a guideline for Pokemon players. This includes “Don’t use this application while driving. It’s difficult to do two things at the same time.”
In Bosnia, authorities are concerned that Pokemon Go players may run blindly into landmines that remain from the war in the 1990s.
In other words, Pokemon Go has taken over the world but when on the hunt, players need to tread softly – for they tread on eggshells.