Mumbai Police, investigating the abusive discussions on Clubhouse app, have arrested three people from Haryana. However, they clarified that these arrests have been made in connection with other chats on the Clubhouse app, adding they are probing all such conversations on the platform. According to news reports, the cyber cell of Mumbai Police began investigations following a complaint registered. Another complaint has been registered with the police specificaly about a the derogatory chat about Muslim women, seeking action against the app, by a Mumbai-based organisation on Wednesday.
The three men arrested from Haryana have been identified as Akash (19), Jaishnav (21) and Yash Parashar (22). Parashar is the alleged moderator of the chat, he is a law student. According to the police, Jaishav and Akash may also have been part of the Clubhouse chat that targeted Muslim women. The three will be taken to Mumbai on transit remand.
Earlier, Delhi Police Cyber Cell officials said they have “narrowed down on four-five suspects’‘ who were allegedly involved in the vulgar and dangerous discussion about Muslim women on an app called Clubhouse. A group of right-wing affiliated men, and some women, were heard having a deeply disturbing conversation in a leaked audio recording recently. The recordings of the offensive discussion revealed vulgar conversations and sexual innuendoes being used to describe Muslim women. The offensive tone bordered on the criminal, where one man claiming to be the son of a Muslim mother and Hindu father sought ‘advice’ on how to ‘get rid’ of his father and sexually ‘assault’ his mother.
The Delhi Police took cognisance of this group on Clubhouse, on Tuesday, after the Delhi Commission for Women (DCW) had sent a notice to the Delhi Police seeking an FIR against those who allegedly made the remarks. An FIR under IPC sections 153A (promoting enmity between different groups on the ground of religion), 295A (deliberate and malicious acts, intended to outrage religious feelings of any class by insulting its religion) and 354 A (sexual harassment) was registered.
‘Young’ TRADs and the hate they spew
These arrests once again put in the spotlight the section of social media users who are young ‘TRADs’ and use the relative anonymity of spaces such as Clubhouse to have misogynistic discussions, and talk about communal hate and sexual violence in ‘casual’ conversations. The ecosystem of TRADs includes those who popularised these apps on social media. Simply put, TRADs are Hate groups of people who identify as “Traditionalists” or “Trads”. Additionally, the name is also an acronym of sorts and stems from the fact that these groups are operating predominantly on Telegram, Reddit, 4chan and Discord (thus TR4D or TRAD). The Hate content created and shared on such apps is also shared widely using other social media platforms such as Twitter where these “trads” are often very active, busy trolling anyone who does not agree with their extreme right-wing supremacist views. Members of these hate groups claim to be preserving tradition by targeting those who speak up against it – people like outspoken Muslim women whose images, names and Twitter handles were used in both the auction apps.
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