'Bulli Bai' case: Engineering student arrested, U'khand woman held

Mumbai Police on Tuesday recorded the arrest of an engineering student who was earlier detained from Bengaluru for allegedly using his Twitter handle to “share derogatory content” from an app that hosted doctored photos of Muslim girls and women.

The 21-year-old was to be produced before a magistrate court on Tuesday. Meanwhile, a woman from Uttarakhand was also detained in connection with the case.

The student was traced through the IP address of the Twitter accounts that were used to upload the pictures, the police said.

The Bulli Bai app, launched on January 1, had listed Muslim women including students, journalists and social workers for “auction” along with their morphed photographs sourced illegally. Hundreds of Muslim women were listed for “auction” on the app with photographs sourced without permission and doctored. It has happened for the second time in less than a year. The app appeared to be a clone of Sulli Deals which triggered a similar row last year.

GitHub, the hosting platform blocked the app following complaints about objectionable content.

West Mumbai Cyber Police on Sunday had filed a case against the developers of Bulli Bai app and Twitter handles promoting the app.

The Delhi Police have also been seeking details from the GitHub platform about the developer of the Bulli Bai mobile application and asked Twitter to block and remove related “offensive contents” on its platform.

The police have also sought from Twitter information about the account handler who first tweeted about the app.

Leaders from across the political spectrum have condemned the cyber harassment of women belonging to the minority community and called for strict action against the guilty.

Terming the matter “serious”, Delhi Minorities Commission issued a notice to city police chief Rakesh Asthana, seeking an action-taken report on January 10. It said the interests of Muslim women need to be safeguarded by nabbing the culprits. The Delhi Commission for Women (DCW) has also asked police officials to appear before it later this week.

Senior Congress leader Mallikarjun Kharge condemned the harassment of Muslim women and alleged that it was the result of the repeated “dehumanisation of minorities by the BJP”. “Strongly condemn this disgusting harassment of Muslim women. This is the result of repeated dehumanisation of minorities by the BJP leadership,” Kharge said on Twitter. “Why were previous instances of similar harassment ignored? I hope this time, the strongest action against the guilty will be taken,” he added.

Congress chief spokesperson Randeep Surjewala alleged the BJP government has abdicated its constitutional and legal responsibility in acting against those lumpen elements and criminals, who are trying to tarnish the modesty of women. “Can India’s women be divided now or looked at from the prism of their religion or caste or region or colour of their skin or the kind of clothes they wear,” he posed. “It is time for Home Minister Amit Shah to abide by the oath of the Constitution that he took and act decisively against those criminals, otherwise, it will be known that there is latent support of Modi Government to such lumpen elements,” Surjewala said.

BJP leader and Union minister Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi accursed those behind the app and said any “cyber criminal communal conspiracy” against the country’s composite culture will not succeed. Interacting with reporters, Naqvi, who is the Union Minister for Minority Affairs, noted the government has been acting in the matter and said such targeting of women is unacceptable. Stern action is being taken against such criminals and their “communal conspiracy” will be exposed soon, he said.

IT minister Ashwini Vaishnaw had said on Sunday that the government is working with police in Delhi and Mumbai, where cases have been registered in the matter. He also said that GitHub has blocked the user who had uploaded the app and that the Computer Emergency Response Team (CERT), the country’s nodal agency on cyber security, and police are coordinating further action in the matter.

The National Commission for Women had also written to the Delhi Police to expedite its action in the case to ensure that such crimes do not recur.

(With inputs from agencies)