Read Time: 04 minutes

The Delhi High Court has directed the Government to treat as a representation, a plea seeking directions on the Central Government to formulate a policy for protection of children from online gaming addiction and to constitute a regulatory body to control gaming content.

The order was passed by the division bench of Chief Justice DN Patel and Justice Jyoti Singh on a plea filed by NGO Distress Management Collective through Advocates Robin Raju and Deepa Joseph.

The petitioner had submitted that the plea was filed subsequent to the complaints received by parents that due to the pandemic children were getting addicted to online games which was having Psychological effects on their minds.

The petitioner further stated that the "The pandemic period has posed a major problem in controlling and monitoring children from excessive gadget use. As classes are now online so parents so parents are not in a position to reprimand children for being with a mobile phone, like they did in the past."

The petitioner pointed out that even China where these games are developed had passed strict regulations with respect to these games and even in India, the Madras High Court had also suggested regulation of online games in view of large number of reprted deaths of children in the state due to online games.

The petitioners had submitted before the Court that a representation was sent to the to the Centre on July 10 requesting it to constitute a regulatory body with experts who can trace games that are violent in nature or where money is extracted for playing. However no response was received till date.

The Court disposing of the petition said that the petitioner should wait for the government to decide on the representation since it had not been even a month since the representation had been submitted.

Case Title:Distress Management Collective v. UOI & Anr.