As you probably know, Pokemon GO hasn’t released in India yet, with the game facing PILs and ban requests even though Niantic doesn’t plan to release the game in India at the moment.
One PIL is filed by Alay Dave, seeking a ban on the game because it shows eggs in places of worship; the other PIL is filed by Sanjay Chaudhari, stating concerns over public safety risks the game could cause. Both PILs will be heard on October 5, in front of Chief Justice R Subhash Reddy and Justice V M Pancholi.
Ahead of the hearing, gamers filed a petition in the Gujarat High Court seeking discharge of all potential bans on Pokémon GO in India. Nimit Shukla, counsel for gamers who filed the petition stated that “We have filed the plea in support of the game as we do not think it hurts religious sentiments and instead curbs people’s right to play the game. We support the game.”
The gamers claim the game’s characters are solely virtual and that depiction of eggs cannot be implied as a violation of religious beliefs. The petition seeks the screenshots – provided by Alay Dave – that depict places of worship as Poke Stop, should be ignored since the game hasn’t been officially released in India.
Shukla debated that “Since the game has not been launched in India, the screenshots produced by him are highly unreliable and do not have any evidentiary value.” The petition also disdains the potential concerns about Pokémon GO geo-location feature, a feature vital for players to locate Pokémon in the real world. As petition reads “The game only uses the location information which is required for a smooth gaming experience and does not share the location information with any other unnecessary party.”
As for now, the potential Pokémon GO release date for India is unknown. The game also hasn’t been released in some large markets, like China and Russia.