INDIA: The cyber police of the Mumbai crime branch on Thursday arrested a 28-year-old man from Odisha in connection with the case of Bulli Bai app, which targeted Muslim women by putting up their images online for “auction”. Along with this, a metropolitan magistrate court in Mumbai on Thursday rejected the bail application filed by three accused arrested in connection with the Bulli Bai app case.
The shocking Bulli Bai app scandal
On New Year’s Day, hundreds of Muslim women in India including journalists, social workers, and other prominent personalities found their images and derogatory content in the app.
As soon as the information about this app came out, there was a huge outburst on social media. It is alleged that the bully was downloading photos of Muslim women from their social media handles and posting them for auction. After this, people were being encouraged to auction these Muslim women.
The case came to light after a female journalist filed an FIR against unknown individuals who tried to harass and insult Muslim women on social media and the internet. Due to this app, there is an atmosphere of anger among Muslims and reactions are also coming from political leaders.
Meanwhile, the Mumbai Police Cyber Cell has arrested Vishal Kumar Jha, Shweta Singh, and Mayank Rawat in connection with the case. According tot he Mumbai police, these people were also involved in the Sulli Deals case.
Niraj Bishnoi, a 20-year-old B.tech engineering Student, was also arrested by Delhi Police from Assam. And Omkareshwar Thakur has been arrested in the Sulli Deals app case. Mumbai Police said a team has been sent to Delhi to take custody of the two.
According to a report, Bulli Bai is created using GitHub. GitHub is an open-source platform that allows users to create and share apps. Anyone on GitHub can create an app with a personal or administrative name and they can also sell their apps on the platform.
Last year, Sulli Deal app was in the news for all the wrong reasons. Just like the Bulli Bai app, Muslim women were being auctioned off through this app.
The purpose of both these apps is to exploit Muslim women mentally and physically. Offensive words for Muslims are used in both apps. Photos and information of Muslim women have been uploaded in both places. The women’s tweets, information from Instagram and Facebook, and their photos were stolen.
In July 2021, several Twitter users shared screenshots of an app called Sulli Deals, which was posted on GitHub by an unknown group. The app had the tagline “Suli Deal of the Day” and was posted with photos of Muslim women. ‘Sulli’ is an offensive ethnic slur used for Muslim women. Meanwhile, both of these controversial mobile applications have been removed from GitHub. Union IT Minister Ashwini Vaishnav blocked the user who created the app on GitHub.
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