Three young sisters aged 12, 14, and 16, jumped from a ninth-floor building in Indian city of Ghaziabad after their parents objected to their online gaming addiction.
The minor sisters allegedly jumped to death from the ninth floor of the building in Uttar Pradesh’s Ghaziabad, after their parents reportedly objected to online gaming, NDTV reported on Wednesday.
According to the police, as cited by the outlet, the three girls – identified as Pakhi, Prachi, and Vishika – were addicted to online gaming, and their family was against the obsession.
They reportedly got addicted to online gaming during the Covid-19 pandemic. They used to play an online task-based Korean lover game.
The girls did not attend their school on a regular basis, said the police.
The police, meanwhile, have recovered the suicide note from the spot, which read, “Mummy, Papa, sorry. The game you wanted us to quit, now you will realize how much we loved it."
The incident took place at Bharat City, a residential township in Ghaziabad, around 2 am on Wednesday, February 4. However, the trigger behind the extreme step is yet to be ascertained.
The police have reached the spot and initiated an investigation into the matter.
The three girls’ father has alleged that an online task-based game played by the girls listed suicide as its final goal, and said forensic officials had informed the family about the nature of the instructions found on their phones.
Speaking to the media, the grieving parent said the minors had been engaged in the game for nearly two-and-a-half years and had become increasingly withdrawn from family life.
“They had been playing this game for nearly two-and-a-half years," he said, adding that the sisters often stayed in their room with their phones and would step out whenever another family member entered.
He claimed the game involved one participant acting as an “instructor" while the others were required to obey orders.
According to him, investigators told the family that the final task on the devices recovered from the scene was listed as suicide.
“They had told me, ‘Papa, we cannot leave Korean. Korean is our life. Korean is everything to us. You cannot separate us from it. We will give up our lives.’ I have just seen the suicide note. This is very tragic," the father said, appealing to parents to closely monitor their children’s gaming habits and online exposure.
Recounting the night of the incident, the father said he and his wife were sleeping in separate rooms when the girls came out on the pretext of drinking water.
“They had phones in their hands at that time. They threw their phones behind and jumped. Later, the police teams took the phones away," he said, adding that the incident occurred around 1.45 am on Wednesday.
He also told authorities that the sisters had stopped attending school for over two years and spent most of their time in isolation with their devices.
As the investigations progress, the police have recovered a suicide note from the residence of the minor sisters in Ghaziabad.
The note, written by one of the sisters, said that everything written in “the diary" should be read, mentioning that “all of it is true".
“I’m really sorry, sorry papa," it read.
Police confirmed that they received information around 2.15 am about three minors jumping from the balcony of a ninth-floor flat in Bharat City.
Assistant Commissioner of Police Atul Kumar Singh, addressing the media, said, “The Police Response Vehicle received information at approximately 2.15 am that three girls had jumped from the balcony of the ninth floor in Bharat City."
“Upon reaching the scene and conducting an investigation, it was confirmed that three minor girls had died due to the fall. They were taken by ambulance to the 50-bed hospital in Loni, where doctors declared all three girls dead," Singh said.
In another statement, he said officers initially found the girls seriously injured on the ground floor and rushed them to the hospital, where they were pronounced dead.
The police are investigating the circumstances that led to the incident.
While the precise reason is not yet known, it is being said that the minors used to play the online task-based game, and that further details will emerge after examination of electronic devices and other evidence.