Three sisters jump off building when parents object to gaming

The parents of three girls in Ghaziabad have been left reeling after their kids jumped off the ninth floor of their residential building and died, reported NDTV.

The girls – identified as Pakhi (12), Prachi (14), and Vishika (16) – apparently jumped after their parents objected to their online gaming habits.

They left behind a diary and what authorities claim is an eight-page suicide note, detailing their gaming and prefaced the letter with the lines: "Is diary me jo kuch bhi likha hai woh sab padh lo kyuki ye sab sach hai (Read everything written in this diary because all of it is true.) Read now. I'm really sorry. Sorry, Papa.”

"Upon reaching the scene and conducting an investigation, it was confirmed that three girls, daughters of Chetan Kumar, had died after jumping from the building," Atul Kumar Singh, Assistant Commissioner of Police, Shalimar Garden, told NDTV. "They were taken by ambulance to a hospital in Loni, where doctors declared them dead. The police are conducting further legal proceedings," he added.

The girls reportedly were addicted to gaming, which they were introduced to during the Covid-19 lockdown. They were particularly invested in a task-based game and had begun to isolate themselves from the world; they had apparently begun to abscond from school in order to play.

A task-based game requires players to complete a series of activities that are increasingly tough in order to get to the next challenge or level. It offers psychological rewards to the one plugged in.

At a time when countries around the world – including the UAE – are navigating the complex web of AI and the internet, and finding new ways to safeguard children, the incident comes as a stark reminder of the dark side of digital nativity.