The Gujarat High Court on Thursday rejected a public interest litigation (PIL) filed by Internet Freedom Foundation (IFF) seeking the court’s intervention against the ban imposed on playing PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds, or PUBG, by authorities in several cities across the state. The division bench of Acting Chief Justice AS Dave and Justice Biren Vaishnav, during the hearing, said the petitioner-organisation should not waste the court’s time and remarked that the issue cannot be termed as a PIL.
“Whether the ban is for public good, or not, is for the authorities to decide. The ban does not violate any fundamental rights of people. We are not inclined to entertain the petition as we are not satisfied. If you want, you can approach the authorities and request them to lift the ban,” the court said. While advocate for the organisation, Asim Pandya, argued that the ban imposed by the authorities under Section 144 of the Criminal Procedure Code (CrPC) is a classic example of abuse of power and violates the fundamental rights of people, the bench straightaway rejected the same.
Notably, the multi-platform battle game, which took the gaming world by storm with over 10 crore downloads on Google Play alone, was recently banned in Ahmedabad, Rajkot, Gir Somnath, Vadodara, Surat, Anand, and Bhavnagar. The ban was imposed by the police authorities of the respective city under Section 144 of the Criminal Procedure Code (CrPC) on the ground that it results in violent behavior among youngsters and affects their studies. While many cities including Ahmedabad lifted the ban, it is still in place in other cities like Rajkot where the ban is in force till April 30.
The petitioner had questioned how can people be harassed by authorities for playing a game, when the ban on it is in clear violation of Article 14 (equality before the law), 19 (freedom of speech), and 21 (deprivation from life and liberty) of the Constitution. It also challenged the arrests of around 21 persons in the state, mostly youngsters, after the ban was implemented.
What is PUBG?
PlayerUnknown's Battlegrounds (PUBG) is an online multiplayer battle game developed and published by PUBG Corporation, a subsidiary of South Korean video game company Bluehole. It is inspired by the 2000 Japanese film Battle Royale, and expanded into a standalone game. In the game, up to one hundred players parachute onto an island and scavenge for weapons and equipment to kill others while avoiding getting killed themselves. The available safe area of the game's map decreases in size over time, directing surviving players into tighter areas to force encounters. The last player or team standing wins the round.
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