NEW DELHI – Indian police have arrested a 21-year-old suspect from Bengaluru in a case ‘Bulli Bai’, an online app that has listed Muslim women for auction including Pakistan Nobel laureate Malala Yousafzai.
The suspect, who has been identified as an engineering student, was detained by the Mumbai Police Cyber Cell after Indian authorities came under pressure for several women rights organisations.
The arrest was made on Monday when police have registered a case against unknown culprits under relevant sections of IPC and the IT Act, Indian media reported.
The application where doctored images of women were uploaded for auction was hosted by GitHub platform. It has now been shut.
On Sunday, West Mumbai Cyber Police station registered a case against the developers of ‘Bulli Bai’ app and Twitter handles involved in promoting the dodgy app.
The case has been registered against the unknown culprits under sections 153(A) (Promoting enmity between different groups on grounds of religion etc), 153(B) (Imputations, assertions prejudicial to national integration), 295(A) (Deliberate and malicious acts, intended to outrage religious feelings), 354D (stalking), 509 (word, gesture or act intended to insult the modesty of a woman), 500 (criminal defamation) of the Indian Penal Code and Section 67 (publishing or transmitting obscene material in electronic form) of Information Technology Act, Business Standard reported.
Earlier, the National Commission for Women (NCW) wrote to Delhi Police Commissioner regarding the Bulli Bai app case, urging him to immediately register FIR in the matter.
NCW in the letter said that after the Sulli deal outrage this is another incident reported of the same portal GitHub which is “condemnable in the strongest possible words”.
“The Commission is extremely anguished and distressed with the abovementioned crime against a woman on cyber space. You are, therefore, required considering the gravity of the matter to immediately register FIR in the matter,” reads NCW’s letter to Delhi Police Commissioner Rakesh Asthana.
“The process must be expedited so that the alleged crime is not again repeated by the same portal ‘GitHub’. It is disappointing that even after the lapse of so many months since the “Sulli Deals” outrage, there has been no concrete action taken in the matter which is utterly unfortunate and concerning. The action taken in the matter in both the cases must be apprised to the Commission at the earliest.”
