Three teenage sisters in India died early Wednesday after falling from a ninth-floor balcony in Uttar Pradesh, local outlets reported, in a case that authorities are still trying to piece together.
The girls — identified as Vishika, 16, Prachi, 14, and Pakhi, 12 — had recently been restricted from using their father’s phone after he discovered what he described as an inappropriate Korean “love game,” according to NDTV. The report said the sisters left behind an eight-page note before the incident.
Their father, Chetan Kumar, told media that his daughters had become intensely focused on Korean entertainment and culture — including movies, music, and TV shows — an interest he said escalated during the COVID-19 pandemic and contributed to them stepping away from school, NDTV reported.
Kumar said he decided to cut off access after noticing the game on his phone. NDTV quoted him as saying the note described Korea as the girls’ “life” and “biggest love,” and suggested they felt pushed away from something they cared about deeply.
Accounts of what happened next vary. While early reports described all three sisters jumping, some witness statements cited by local reporting suggest two of the girls may have been trying to stop the third and then fell as well, leaving investigators to determine whether the deaths were intentional, accidental, or a combination of both.
Atul Kumar Singh, the Assistant Commissioner of Police in Uttar Pradesh, said police received a call around 2:15 a.m. local time and arrived to find the girls on the ground, according to reports. Authorities said they were taken to Loni Hospital, where they were declared dead.
The investigation remains ongoing, and police have not publicly confirmed the name of the game referenced by the family, NDTV reported. A police official told the outlet that, while a specific title has not been identified, investigators believe the girls were strongly influenced by Korean culture.
The tragedy comes amid broader global debate over youth screen time and compulsive gaming. The World Health Organization (WHO) added gaming disorder to its International Classification of Diseases in 2019, describing it as “a pattern of persistent or recurrent gaming behavior” that “takes precedence over other life interests.”
