NEW DELHI: The Rajkot police have arrested 10 college students for playing PUBG on their smartphones in public. This move comes after the Surat administration in Gujarat had issued a notification banning the PUBG game five days back. These are the first arrests made in Gujarat, after the state government had banned the game from its schools.

“All these students were arrested for violating the notification issued by police commissioner. They were released on bail later,” Police Inspector VS Vanzara of Rajkot taluka police station told TOI.

The arrests were made to enforce the strict ban on the game and a senior police official said, “We want to give out a stern message that the notification banning PUBG won’t remain just on paper.”

The students were arrested from public places. While six were arrested near Atmiya College on Kalavad Road, three others were picked up from Raiya crossroads and near Galaxy Cinema and one near Neptune Tower on Wednesday.

The Surat administration while enforcing the ban earlier had that the game in creating a negative impact on the health and minds of children and it is also encouraging them to turn violent.

The administration also claimed that the addictive nature of the game is the reason why students are performing badly in exams. As reported by the local media, a circular was sent to primary education officers of the district in order to make sure that the ban is enforced properly. The recommendation to ban the game in the district was issued by Jagruti Pandya, Chairperson of Gujarat Child rights body, to the National Commission for Protection of Child Rights (NCPCR).

“The NCPCR had sent a letter to all the states and recommended a ban on the game. All the states are required to implement it. Looking at the negative effects of the game, we had recently sent a letter to the state government recommending a ban on the game,” said Pandya.

