On Friday, the Supreme Court sought a response from the states of Delhi, Uttar Pradesh and Maharashtra to a plea filed by Aumkareshwar Thakur, the key accused in the S**li Deals and B**li Bai app cases, to club multiple First Information Reports (FIRs) filed against him.  

Readers would recall that both the apps, S**lli Deals (July 2021) and B**li Bai (January 2022), were used to target independent thinking and vocal Muslim women by putting up their images as part of a virtual auction.

Aumkareshwar Thakur who had been arrested from Indore by the Delhi police in January, had moved SC demanding that all the FIRs against him be clubbed together. However, a bench of Justices Sanjay Kishan Kaul and MM Sundresh pondered over the possibility of doing so, given how different FIRs included different charges related to the creation of the two apps.

According to Bar and Bench, Justice Kaul remarked, “There are different offences. One is sulli deals and another is Bulli bai. Can different offences be clubbed? You have uploaded photos of various people and each is an aggrieved party.” Further noting that there were multiple uploads, he inquired, “You are saying in respect of each website there are different proceedings. Can you say whatever uploaded is confined to one place?”

On March 28, 2022, Dr. Pankaj Sharma, Chief Metropolitan Magistrate (CMM) of Patiala House Court in Delhi granted bail to Aumkareshwar Thakur (26), the alleged creator of ‘S**li Deals’ app as well as Neeraj Bishnoi (21), alleged creator of ‘B**li Bai’ app. After bail had been first refused in January 2021, chargesheets had been filed against the ‘prime accused’ Aumkareshwar Thakur and Neeraj Bishnoi in early March 2021. Both accused have been charged with allegedly running the “S**li Deals and B**li Bai mobile apps to auction Muslim women in the virtual space.”

Delhi Police had revealed that both Thakur and Bishnoi were members of TRADS. According to the police, Thakur had joined a TRAD group named Tradmahasabha using the @gangescion Twitter handle. He reportedly told the police that the idea to target and defame Muslim women came from discussions among members of this group. However, he appears to have deleted his online footprint.

Simply put, TRADs are Hate groups comprising 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.

Related:

Apps auctioning women fuelled by a TRADition of Hate

‘S**li Deals’ a form of Hate Speech: UN Special Rapporteur

Masterminds behind ‘S**li Deals’ and ‘B**li Bai’ apps granted bail

The post Muslim women’s auction app case: SC seeks response from states on key accused’s plea to club FIRs appeared first on SabrangIndia.

The Mumbai sessions court on Tuesday, June 21, 2022 granted bail to the three accusedAumkareshwar Thakur, NeerajBishnoi and Neeraj Singh in the ‘Bulli Bai’/’Sulli Deals’ cases who were still in custody. As the three other accused, Shweta Singh (18) and MayankRawat (21), who hail from Uttarakhand and Vishal Jha (21) a resident of Bangalore in the cases had already been granted bail earlier this year, all six accused in the cases are now out on bail. All three accused have been restricted from travelling abroad without prior permission of the court and have also been directed to appear before the police once every month.

According to the live Law, The FIR against them was registered earlier this month against necessary Twitter handles and the developer of Bulli Bai The offences are Sections 153A (promoting enmity on grounds of religion etc), 153B (imputations prejudicial to national-integration), 295A (insulting religious beliefs), 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, 2000.

As part of its relentless HateWatch campaign, CJP had complained to Twitter in May-June 2021 against abuse and intimidation at Muslim women through twitter accounts. In response, Twitter had taken action against 21 twitter accounts for threatening Muslim women with sexual violence and violating the Twitter rules and guidance in early July 21.

CJP in its complaint dated May 26, had also brought to Twitter’s attention certain posts made through these accounts that that demeaned Muslim women as “sex objects for Hindu men”. The content displayed pornographic videos of women in hijab with inflammatory captions presenting Muslim women as objects meant to be sexually exploited, and also photoshopped pictures of Hindu men and pregnant women in saffron hijab. Out of these, Twitter has removed 11 posts for violating Twitter norms.

In addition to this, certain reported accounts had already been removed after our complaint and thus, Twitter could not take appropriate action. Twitter also informed us that another online post reported by us was not hosted by it, and appeared to be posted on a third-party website (Facebook). CJP shall pursue this with Facebook and it intends to keep a close track of such content on all digital platforms and file complaints before appropriate authority as part of our sustained Hate Watch Campaign.

Facts of the case

On January 1, 2022, several Muslim women found themselves on ‘auction’ on an app called Bulli Bai. The app hosted by the GitHub platform had used their photographs, many of them doctored. According to the victims, the profiles, which contained images and other personal details of the victims, were created and being propagated without the consent of the women.

On March 28, 2022, Dr. Pankaj Sharma, Chief Metropolitan Magistrate (CMM) of Patiala House Court in Delhi granted bail to Aumkareshwar Thakur (26), the alleged creator of ‘S**li Deals’ app as well as NeerajBishnoi (21), alleged creator of ‘B**li Bai’ app.After bail had been first refused in January 2021, chargesheets had been filed against the ‘prime accused’ Aumkareshwar Thakur and NeerajBishnoiinearly March 2021. Both accused have been charged with allegedly running the “S**li Deals and B**li Bai mobile apps to auction Muslim women in the virtual space.”

Court’s Order

In the session’s court’s June 21 order, additional sessions judge A.B. Sharma directed that the accused be released upon furnishing a Rs 50,000 bail bond along with one or two sureties of the same amount,Bar and Benchreported.Their bail conditions included that they must pay monthly visits to the cyber police station and that they can not leave the country without the prior permission of the court. In the bail application, submitted through advocate ShivamDeshmukh, several grounds were put forth arguing for the grant of bail. It argued that the accused had been falsely implicated in the case and have not committed the alleged offences; that they are not the creators of the app and were merely followers, which does not constitute an offence; and that since the punishment for the offences is less than three years, incarceration is unwarranted.

Further, the application argued that they had already been granted bail from a Delhi court and that their co-accused had already been granted bail; and that since all the relevant electronic evidence has been seized, the cannot tamper with it.Interestingly, Deshmukh even contended that the charges against the applicants which allege the incitement of disharmony among different religions do not hold because only one religion (Islam) was targeted.Finally, the application argued that the accused hail from ‘respectable’ families and that the alleged act is, therefore, ‘beyond imagination’. Yet, it stated that even if the allegations are true, the court should take a “fatherly view” and that the accused require counselling rather than incarceration.

Bulli Bai/Sulli Deals

Sulli Deals’ put up photographs of Indian Muslim women, listing them for “sale”, a similar website and app by the name of ‘Bulli Bai’ has triggered outrage. For those who may not be aware, ‘Bulli/Sulli’ are Islamophobic slurs referring to Muslim women, alterations of the term ‘Mulli’ often used by the right wing to troll Muslim women.

In July 2021, nearly 80 Muslim women were targeted and put up “for sale” on the S**li Deals app, on Githuband in January 2022, over 100 Muslim women were targeted using the B**li Bai app. Both B**li and S**li are sexually derogatory words used to target Muslim women. In both cases, there was no real sale of any kind – the purpose wass to degrade and humiliate Muslim women by sharing their personal images, and also to harass them by sharing their personal information.

While Delhi police arrested NeerajBishnoi from Jorhat, Assam on January 6, 2022, AumkareshwarThakurwas arrested from Indore, Madhya Pradesh on January 9, 2022. Arrests were also made by Mumbai Police around same time wherein Vishal Kumar aka Vishal Jha a 21-year-old from Bengaluru, Karnataka, 21-year-old MayankRawal and 18-year-old Shweta Singh, both from Uttarakhand. The FIR in the case was registered under sections 153A, 153 B, 295A, 354D, 509, 500 of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) along with Section 67 Information Technology Act.

As reported by Sabrangindia, the UN Special Rapporteur on Minority Issues, Dr Fernand de Varennes, has taken note of the vile anti Muslim ‘S**li Deals’ as hate speech. Varennes said such harassment of Muslim women in India must be condemned and the law should act against it “as soon as they occur”. He added that “all Human Rights of minorities need to be fully & equally protected.” 

What’s also important to note here is that in January 2022, an ecosystem of TRADs had come to light when the Delhi police revealed that both Aumkareshwar Thakur and NirajBishnoi were members of TRAD groups online. According to the police, Thakur had joined a TRAD group named Tradmahasabha using the @gangescion Twitter handle. He reportedly told the police that the idea to target and defame Muslim women came from discussions among members of this group. However, he had eventually deleted his online footprint.

TRADs are Hate groups of people identifying themselves as “Traditionalists” or “Trads”. The name stems from the fact that these groups are operating predominantly on Telegram, Reddit, 4chan and Discord (thus TR4D or TRAD). They run an elaborate social media campaign to popularise these apps, trolling anyone who does not agree with their extreme right-wing supremacist views. Moreover, they claim to be preserving “tradition” by targeting those who speak up against it and thereby targeting outspoken Muslim women whose images, names and Twitter handles were misused by the said auction apps.

In January 2022, fifty organisations including the Citizens for Justice and Peace (cjp.org.in) had written to the Commissioner of Police, Mumbai, urging him to ensure that the real masterminds behind both the Su**I Deals and Bu**I Bai Apps are investigated and prosecuted. Other organisations included: Forum Against Oppression of Women (FAOW), Jan SwasthyaAbhiyan (Mumbai), Justice Coalition of Religious (West India), People’s Union for Civil Liberties (PUCL) – Maharashtra, Bebaak Collective, Haq Hai, Parcham Collective, and many others. The Mumbai police has since filed a chargesheet in the case.

Related:

Has inaction prompted another Muslim women’s auction on the internet?
‘S**li Deals’ a form of Hate Speech: UN Special Rapporteur
Apps auctioning women fuelled by a TRADition of Hate
Bulli Bai case: Are arrests enough to quell the storm?
Three arrested in Bulli Bai case
Being a Muslim woman in India: A story
Masterminds behind ‘S**li Deals’ and ‘B**li Bai’ apps granted bail
Bulli Bai case: Are arrests enough to quell the storm?
CJP approaches Twitter over sexually violent content against Muslim women
I’m a vocal Indian Muslim woman, not an object to be auctioned

The post Mumbai Court grants bail to three students in the Bulli Bai app case appeared first on SabrangIndia.

A Metropolitan Magistrate Court in Bandra, granted bail to three of the six accused in the B**li Bai case. The Court observed that the three had minimal role to play and they were at a tender and immature age, which were misused by the other older accused.

On April 12, 2022, Magistrate Komal Singh Rajput granted bail to Vishal Kumar Jha, Shweta Singh and Mayank Agarwal and refused bail to Omkareshwar Thakur and Neeraj Singh. The third accused Neeraj Bishnoi has been asked to file a fresh application as the application submitted to the Court was neither signed by him nor his advocate.

The Magistrate granting bail observed that they are students of very tender age and they are expecting to appear for exams, and if they are allowed to remain in jail, it will adversely affect their future prospects.

The Court also requested the parents or guardians of the accused, who were granted bail, to provide them with counseling on norms of social conduct, including conduct on social media.

As reported by Live Law, the three accused were granted bail of Rs. 25,000 each along with a personal bond and surety bond. They have been directed to furnish detailed addresses of themselves, their parents and sureties and relevant proofs, along with all their mobile numbers.

The court also added that the record of the investigation reflected that even if the trial commenced within a short span of time, its immediate conclusion was not possible “as the evidence of technical nature, which is spread across the country, is going to come on record.” The court said the trial will “take substantial time,” reported Live Law.

Background of the case

In July 2021, nearly 80 Muslim women were targeted and put up “for auction” on the S**li Deals app, and in January 2022, over 100 Muslim women were targeted using the B**li Bai app. Both B**li and S**li are sexually derogatory words used to target Muslim women. In both cases, there was no real sale of any kind – the purpose was to degrade and humiliate Muslim women by sharing their personal images, and also to harass them by sharing their personal information.

While Delhi police arrested Neeraj Bishnoi from Jorhat, Assam on January 6, 2022, Omkareshwar Thakur was arrested from Indore, Madhya Pradesh on January 9, 2022. Arrests were also made by Mumbai Police around the same time wherein Vishal Kumar aka Vishal Jha a 21-year-old from Bengaluru, Karnataka, 21-year-old Mayank Rawal and 18-year-old Shweta Singh, both from Uttarakhand. The FIR in the case was registered under sections 153A, 153 B, 295A, 354D, 509, 500 of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) along with Section 67 Information Technology Act.

As reported by SabrangIndia, the UN Special Rapporteur on Minority Issues, Dr Fernand de Varennes, has taken note of the vile anti Muslim ‘S**li Deals’ as hate speech. Varennes said such harassment of Muslim women in India must be condemned and the law should act against it “as soon as they occur”. He added that “all Human Rights of minorities need to be fully & equally protected.”

What’s also important to note here is that in January 2022, an ecosystem of TRADs had come to light when the Delhi police revealed that both Omkareshwar Thakur and Niraj Bishnoi were members of TRAD groups online. According to the police, Thakur had joined a TRAD group named Tradmahasabha using the @gangescion Twitter handle. He reportedly told the police that the idea to target and defame Muslim women came from discussions among members of this group. However, he had eventually deleted his online footprint.

TRADs are Hate groups of people identifying themselves as “Traditionalists” or “Trads”. The name stems from the fact that these groups are operating predominantly on Telegram, Reddit, 4chan and Discord (thus TR4D or TRAD). They run an elaborate social media campaign to popularise these apps, trolling anyone who does not agree with their extreme right-wing supremacist views. Moreover, they claim to be preserving “tradition” by targeting those who speak up against it and thereby targeting outspoken Muslim women whose images, names and Twitter handles were misused by the said auction apps.

In January 2022, fifty organisations including Citizens for Justice and Peace had written to the Commissioner of Police, Mumbai, urging him to ensure that the real masterminds behind both the Su**I Deals and Bu**I Bai Apps are investigated and prosecuted. Other organisations included: Forum Against Oppression of Women (FAOW), Jan Swasthya Abhiyan (Mumbai), Justice Coalition of Religious (West India), People’s Union for Civil Liberties (PUCL) – Maharashtra, Bebaak Collective, Haq Hai, Parcham Collective, and many others. The Mumbai police have since filed a chargesheet in the case.

Related:

Masterminds behind ‘S**li Deals’ and ‘B**li Bai’ apps granted bail
Has inaction prompted another Muslim women’s auction on the internet?
‘S**li Deals’ a form of Hate Speech: UN Special Rapporteur
Apps auctioning women fuelled by a TRADition of Hate
Three arrested in Bulli Bai case 

The post B**lli Bai case: Three accused granted Bail by Mumbai Court appeared first on SabrangIndia.

While rejecting the bail plea of Vishal Kumar Jha (21), an accused in the  Bu**i Bai – app case, the Mumbai sessions court has said a “thorough custodial interrogation is required,” adding that “the role of accused Vishal Jha cannot be bifurcated from the rest of the accused.”

Justice Sanjashree Gharat reportedly said, “In order to investigate the undetected aspects of the crime, custodial interrogation is required. Therefore, at this stage, as the investigation is in progress, the prayer of the accused for release on bail cannot be allowed”. 

Jha, was arrested in Bengaluru on January 4, remanded to police custody and later sent to judicial custody after he contracted Covid-19. According to a report in India Today, he then moved the magistrate’s court for bail, which was rejected and he approached the Sessions Court. According to the report while rejecting the bail, the judge observed that Niraj Bishnoi, who is accused of developing the  Bu**i Bai  app had done so with the help of the other accused in the case, including Jha. 

In wake of two apps – Su**i Deals and Bu**i Bai – putting up names, images, Twitter handles and other details of outspoken Muslim women, offering them up for “auction”, Citizens for Justice and Peace (CJP), and several human rights organisations had written to the Mumbai Police Commissioner, urging him to conduct a deeper probe into the matter so that the real perpetrators of these heinous crimes can be revealed. The letter acknowledged the swift action taken by the Mumbai Police is arresting three perpetrators, but raises concerns regarding the wider conspiracy and how that should be investigated in-depth. It stated, “The persons who set things in motion are often found to be pawns of people who have power and clout, both political, social and economic. It seems clear, these young people who are now accused in the case, had some ‘influential persons’ and ‘forces’ who may have been directing them to act. Investigating these would possibly reveal the larger, grave and sinister motives behind these ‘auctions’.” CJP and others had urged the police “to investigate hard and dig deeper into this matter to get to the root of which individuals or organisations are the real conspirators.”

Jha’s advocate Shivam Deshmukh, submitted that Jha had been “falsely implicated in the case and had not committed any offence” and that “the prosecution had failed to prove that the Twitter account purportedly belonging to Jha had been used to malign the image of the complainant or any other woman.” However, according to public prosecutor Kalpana Hire, who opposed the bail application, as Jha was shifted to a Covid centre, he could not be confronted with the information on the devices. She told the court that Jha had six Twitter, two Instagram, one YouTube and six Gmail accounts, “hence, a thorough investigation would be required.” His account on the Github platform also requires investigation and Jha is a member of the Twitter groups ‘High IQ Bruh’ and ‘Trad Mahasabha’, where the link to the Bulli Bai App had been shared.

Remember the TRADs? 

In wake of two successive apps that provide an online platform for “auction” of Muslim women, an ecosystem of TRADs had come to light. These TRADs are the ones running an elaborate social media campaign to popularise these apps. Delhi police revealed that both Aumkareshwar Thakur (arrested from Indore in the S**li Deals case) and Niraj Bishnoi (arrested from Assam in the B**li Bai case) were members of TRAD groups online. According to the police, Thakur had joined a TRAD group named Trad Mahasabha using the @gangescion Twitter handle. He reportedly told the police that the idea to target and defame Muslim women came from discussions among members of this group. However, he appears to have deleted his online footprint.

Simply put, TRADs are Hate groups comprising 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). 

 

Related:

‘S**li Deals’ a form of Hate Speech: UN Special Rapporteur 

Bulli Bai case: Are arrests enough to quell the storm?

I am A Muslim Woman

Has inaction prompted another Muslim women’s auction on the internet?

Being a Muslim woman in India: A story

I’m a vocal Indian Muslim woman, not an object to be auctioned

CJP approaches Twitter over sexually violent content against Mu

The post Mumbai court rejects bail plea of  Bu**i Bai app case accused Vishak Kumar Jha appeared first on SabrangIndia.

In wake of two successive apps that provide an online platform for “auction” of Muslim women, an ecosystem of TRADs has come to light. These TRADs are the ones running an elaborate social media campaign to popularise these apps. So, what are TRADs?

The word first came to light when the Delhi police revealed that both Aumkareshwar Thakur (arrested from Indore in the S**li Deals case) and Niraj Bishnoi (arrested from Assam in the B**li Bai case) were members of TRAD groups online. According to the police, Thakur had joined a TRAD group named Tradmahasabha using the @gangescion Twitter handle. He reportedly told the police that the idea to target and defame Muslim women came from discussions among members of this group. However, he appears to have deleted his online footprint.

Simply put, TRADs are Hate groups comprising 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.

In an interview to The Quint, journalist Alishan Jafri says, “It’s largely an organic movement through which thousands of young people make friends online because of their extremist far-right views and genocidal ‘humour’. It’s a movement driven by only hate for Muslims, Dalits, Sikhs, and other minorities.”

After the arrest of Aumkareshwar Thakur, a senior police official told Indian Express, “These are some ‘traditional’ and conservative groups. I saw them… the members seem to have oppressive views — from the caste system to women empowerment. They condemn changes happening around us (in society) and often share texts from scriptures or offensive memes.” IE further reported that most platforms are “rife with casteist slurs, abuse aimed at Ambedkar, and talk of replacing the Constitution with the Manusmriti.” The content is also extremely Islamophobic.

However, some of them have views so extreme that they think the present Narendra Modi-led government isn’t doing enough to crack down on those who go against tradition. Journalist Alishan Jafri told The Quint, “Many of them believe that the Chaturvarna system should be strictly enforced and Manusmriti must replace the Constitution of India. They even dislike Prime Minister Modi and consider him to be unfit to be the PM. They mock his caste and his supposed inability to deal with the minorities with an iron hand, especially post-Bengal violence,” adding, “In the Trad world, glorification of anti-Dalit violence is quite rampant.”

Given factors such as easy access to the internet, hate for lower-castes, women and minorities, and frequent quoting of scripture, it can be surmised that membership predominantly comprises educated people hailing from so-called “upper” castes. All of this is deeply unsettling especially in wake of the rise in open calls to genocide of minorities, given not only during the Dharm Sansad, but also previously via slogans like “Desh ke gaddaron ko, goli maaro s***on ko,” (Translation: Shoot the traitors) that was originally directed at people protesting the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) that was openly discriminatory towards Muslim refugees. The slogan thus essentially labelled minorities as traitors.

But while it is easy to identify online trolls, it is difficult to keep a tab on “trads” given how they usually operate in their own groups. It is, therefore, harder to stem this online radicalisation of privileged youth, who it appears are not only harbouring extreme opinions, but are also comfortable with the idea of the Hate spilling offline and having consequences in the real world.

This is reminiscent of the Alt-Right movement in the United States, where Hate and supremacist ideas spread like wildfire online courtesy members of groups like Q Anon. The real-world impact was felt during the January 6, 2021 attack on the US Capitol. One therefore wonders what these young minds, already full of festering Hate, are planning next.

Related:

Four foot-soldiers arrested, but who is the real mastermind?

Bulli Bai case: Are arrests enough to quell the storm?

Citizens reclaim Varanasi ghats: VHP, Bajrang Dal’s communal posters fail

Hate Offender: Meet Kalicharan ‘Maharaj’

The post Apps auctioning women fuelled by a TRADition of Hate appeared first on SabrangIndia.

While Mumbai Police arrested three accused in the Bulli Bai case, Delhi Police arrested one more, calling him the ‘mastermind’. He was identified as Neeraj Bishnoi arrested from Jorhat, Assam, who allegedly created the app on the GitHub platform. Now according to Times Now’s anchor Rahul Shivashankar, “Mumbai police claim that with arrest of ‘mastermind’ case solved ‘completely’” Interestingly he added that the ‘mastermind’ “has no links to saffron groups”.

Latest on Bulli Bai APP probe. Mumbai police claim that with arrest of ‘mastermind’ from Jorhat case solved ‘completely’. The ‘mastermind’ has no links to saffron groups. Were ‘secular’ rights activists fear mongering and dividing society? Who atones for this fake propaganda?

— Rahul Shivshankar (@RShivshankar) January 6, 2022

According to  Deputy Commissioner of Police, Intelligence Fusion and Strategic Operations (IFSO) unit KPS Malhotra, “Evidence has been found from his phone & laptop, including details of all the profiles uploaded on the app on #github.”

DCP (IFSO) KPS Malhotra on #BulliBai accused #NeerajBishnoi: “He is the mastermind. Evidence has been found from his phone & laptop, including details of all the profiles uploaded on the app on #github. Bishnoi to be produced in a #Delhi court today.”@TheQuint pic.twitter.com/wY7IqU6ZzU

— Somya Lakhani (@somyalakhani) January 6, 2022

However while the news anchor is happy to conclude that Neeraj Bishnoi, arrested from Assam by Delhi Police Special Cell’s IFSO team, is not connected with the “right wing”, the 21-year-old Bishnoi is a second-year engineering student of a Bhopal-based institute has radical views reported India today. His Quora account activity revealed that Bishnoi “seemed to have been radicalised at a very young age” stated the news report. He also had answers that hinted his views of Islam and Muslims, “A religion who thinks that increasing their followers would grant them a higher level in the society cannot be classified as a religion, especially those for whom killing other religion’s followers would grant them a ticket to heaven. I’m not pointing at anyone. I’m not pointing at any religion. My words are enough for that.”

His “view on ‘terrorism has no religion’”, was, “there is a direct relationship with religion and Terrorism,” and according to India Today, quoted an anonymous ‘international leader’ saying, “Every Muslim may not be Terrorist, true. But how’s it that every Terrorist is a follower of Islam.”

After his arrest Neeraj Bishnoi, has shown “no remorse for his actions during police interrogation,” reported NDTV.  He has reportedly claimed to have done what he thought was “right”. Bishnoi was presented in court on Thursday, and has been sent to seven days’ police custody. According to the NDTV report, Bishnoi, a resident of Assam, was tracked down via digital surveillance of a Twitter handle – @bullibai_ – that he created. According to the report, the app itself was “developed in November and it went public on December 31, at which time another Twitter handle – @sage0x1 was created to spread the word” and “Bishnoi reportedly also created a @giyu44 handle that he used to mock Mumbai Police – he referred to them as “slumbai police” after the other accused were arrested.” Strangely this handle remains active, and its pinned tweet mocks the police over the arrests, as well as a ‘confession’ that he is the creator himself.

You have arrested the wrong person, slumbai police

I am the creator of #BulliBaiApp

Got nothing to do with the two innocents whom u arrested, release them asap mf https://t.co/QJA078wSnH pic.twitter.com/ycbDuc7cNS

— . (@giyu44) January 5, 2022

According to a report in The Quint, Neeraj’s father Dashrath Bishnoi, said he was shocked when the police landed at their home on Wednesday January 5. He added that Neeraj “used to watch one news channel”, and “maybe that had some impact on him… He stopped watching that channel a year ago, though.” By Thursday, VIT’s vice-chancellor issued an order which stated that Niraj is “suspended with immediate effect from the university till further notice, in view of bringing disrepute to the University and defaming the name of the Institute.”

His is the fourth arrest in the case, and the first one by Delhi Police, earlier three were arrested  by the Mumbai Police – Vishal Kumar aka Vishal Jha from Bengaluru, and Mayank Rawal and Shweta Singh from Uttarakhand. Vishal, a 21-year-old engineering student was detained on Monday from Bengaluru, and arrested by the Mumbai cyber police on Tuesday. He has been remanded in police custody till January 10. According to reports, Vishal was running one of the Twitter handles used to upload the content from the app.

Mumbai Police arrested 18-year-old Shweta Singh, on Tuesday, reportedly as being the prime suspect. Her name was “revealed by Vishal Kumar” who said that he was in touch with the woman and claimed that she was in touch with the people who were working on the posts and activities on the Bulli Bai app. She was using a fake Twitter handle with the name JattKhalsa07.

The third arrest was from Uttarakhand, of 21-year-old student, Mayank Rawal, and was arrested by the Mumbai cyber police from Uttarakhand. The FIR in the case was registered under sections 153A, 153 B, 295A, 354D, 509, 500 of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) along with Section 67 Information Technology Act against unknown persons on Sunday.

Earlier Right wing affiliated handles had tried to pin the blame on Muslims, and later Sikhs, and shared claims that the vile social media app #SulliDeal was developed by someone named Javed Alam. Thereby suggesting that even ‘bulli bai’, may have a similar ‘ownership’. 

That #SulliDeal app was developed by a guy named Javed Alam.

How many of you know that? How many of you shared this info on other social media platforms?

It’s never too late, share this info everywhere. Don’t let I$lamists make Hindus feel ashamed for their own deeds.

— Mr Sinha (@MrSinha_) January 4, 2022

However, all those attempts fell flat when these three accused were arrested. However the big question that remains is, who funded these three “students” to carry on with the vile ‘Bulli Bai’ app project.

In July 2021, nearly 80 Muslim women were targeted and put up “for sale” on “Sulli Deals”, and this time it is over 100 Muslim women who have been targeted on “Bulli Bai”. The app’s interface used Punjabi language or the Gurmukhi writing script in the app. Both Bulli and Sulli are derogatory words used for Muslim women. In both cases, there was no real sale of any kind – the purpose is to degrade and humiliate Muslim women by sharing their personal images.

The RSS mouthpiece Organiser, in August 2021, had published a “massive revelation about the mobile app ‘Sulli Deals’” claiming that a private conversation suggests the app was developed by one Javed Alam of Uttar Pradesh. An expose account @sullidealsXpose, it reported, “put out a private conversation between Alam and a Muslim woman in which Alam claims to have developed the app.” According to the Organiser’s report, on the “leaked conversation”, Alam, 23, reportedly “created the app and doesn’t regret it. He further claims that it will teach a nice lesson to those Muslim women who post their pictures on social media platforms. The RSS mouthpiece claims that according to the media the “Sulli Deals” was “handiwork of some Hindu elements”. However, it was an ‘editor’ of Opinida who had tweeted an endorsement of the Sulli Deals. 

Related:

Bulli Bai case: Are arrests enough to quell the storm?
I am A Muslim Woman
Has inaction prompted another Muslim women’s auction on the internet?
Being a Muslim woman in India: A story
I’m a vocal Indian Muslim woman, not an object to be auctioned
CJP approaches Twitter over sexually violent content against Muslim wom

The post Four foot-soldiers arrested, but who is the real mastermind? appeared first on SabrangIndia.

It has been five days since the horrendous act of auctioning Muslim women in India through an app called “Bulli Bai” came to light. The app was hosted on a Microsoft owned hosting site called GitHub. Several FIRs have been filed in Delhi, Mumbai and Hyderabad by the women who have been targeted on this app, seeking action against the perpetrators. These women, with immense courage, have taken a stand to fight back these malicious acts that aim to defame and harass them. While they have done their bit of standing up for their dignity, it is time for those who the law has empowered to take action, to take up the cudgels. However, have they done enough?

Considering this is the second time such an incident has taken place; the first one being in July 2021 when a similar app called “Sulli Deals” had sprung up, the action should have been swifter and from all government agencies. Looking at the updates so far in the case, the impression is that doing the ‘bare minimum’ has sufficed until now.

Law enforcement

As per latest updates, three persons have been arrested in this case so far by the Mumbai Police – Vishal Kumar aka Vishal Jha from Bengaluru, and Mayank Rawal and Shweta Singh from Uttarakhand. Vishal, a 21-year-old engineering student was detained on Monday from Bengaluru, and arrested by the Mumbai cyber police on Tuesday. Hed has been remanded in police custody till January 10. According to news reports, Vishal was running one of the Twitter handles used to upload the content from the app.

Mumbai Police arrested 18-year-old Shweta Singh, on Tuesday, reportedly as being the prime suspect. Her name was “revealed by Vishal Kumar” who said that he was in touch with the woman and claimed that she was in touch with the people who were working on the posts and activities on the Bulli Bai app. She was using a fake Twitter handle with the name JattKhalsa07.

A third arrest has been made in the case from Uttarakhand, the accused has been identified as a 21-year-old student, Mayank Rawal, and was arrested by the Mumbai cyber police from Uttarakhand. The FIR in the case was registered under sections 153A, 153 B, 295A, 354D, 509, 500 of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) along with Section 67 Information Technology Act against unknown persons on Sunday.

While all this action has been taken by the Mumbai Police, the Delhi Police seem tohave made liitle or no progress in investigations. This failure of Delhi Police was also reflected in the July 2021 “Sulli Deals” case where one of the complainants stated that she was not even given a copy of the FIR. Delhi Police has said that it has contacted the hosting platform and are awaiting their reply.

A case was registered based on a complaint received on Jan 1, probe underway. We’ve contacted the app hosting platform & are awaiting their reply. Further action to be taken based on their reply: Additional CP & Delhi Police PRO, Chinmoy Biswal on ‘Bulli Bai’app case pic.twitter.com/QQm1k7Qx76

— ANI (@ANI) January 4, 2022

The legal redressal process has been set in motion in the true sense by Mumbai Police, whereas Delhi police has done the bare minimum by registering an FIR. There is hope that there will be a breakthrough in the case that will help in finding out how and why this app came into existence and at whose behest.

Media

In order to play up or rather give importance to an issue, it is pertinent that national level and mainstream media that has the privilege of broadcasting news to people’s homes for 24 hours a day, covers these issues. However, in many instances, the media has failed to do so.

Instead, some major media houses have resorted to attempts at “shielding” or downplaying the role of the accused in the case. India Today came out with a “sympathy” report for the accused Shweta Singh with a news article titled Lost father to Covid, mother to cancer: All about Bulli Bai mastermind Shweta Singh. The article begins with giving her family background, “She lost her father to Covid-19 last year and lost her mother to cancer before this. She has an elder sister who is a commerce graduate, while her younger sister and brother are school students. She was preparing for engineering entrance examinations.”

Of course, the story and India Today’ News Director Rahul Kanwal’s tweet in that regard drew considerable flak on social media and it irked people that the age of the accused and her family background was being played at to draw sympathy or some kind of justification for her alleged deplorable actions.

Quite an unexpected ‘mastermind’ of the Bulli Bai plot. 18 year old girl in the hills, Shweta Sigh. Lost father to Covid, mother to cancer: Here’s what we know so far about Bulli Bai mastermind Shweta Singh. https://t.co/TrjyJK6Hqf

— Rahul Kanwal (@rahulkanwal) January 5, 2022

Legal action

While the Mumbai Police have made arrests in the case, it is also important that as the case progresses relevant sections of the penal code and other Acts are invoked. Thus far, Mumbai Police has invoked the following sections 153A (Promoting enmity between different groups on grounds of religion etc), 153 B (Imputation, assertions prejudicial to national-integration), 295A (Deliberate and malicious acts, intended to outrage religious feelings of any class by insulting its religion or religious beliefs), 354D (Stalking), 509 (Word, gesture or act intended to insult the modesty of a woman), 500 (defamation) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) along with Section 67 Information Technology Act. Apart from these, section 298 (Uttering words, etc., with deliberate intent to wound the religious feelings) of IPC and section 66E (Punishment for violation of privacy) of the IT Act may also be invoked.

What can the government do?

The government, under the Information Technology Act, 2000 has some powers to call upon information from intermediaries that host such malicious content. Under section 69 of the Act, the government has the Power to issue directions for interception or monitoring or decryption of any information. Under this section, the intermediary is bound to:

(a) provide access to or secure access to the computer resource generating, transmitting, receiving or storing such information; or

(b) intercept, monitor, or decrypt the information, as the case may be; or

(c) provide information stored in computer resource

Failure to do so can invite imprisonment of up to 7 years and fine.

Under section 69B the government also has the power to monitor and collect traffic data or information through any computer resource. The intermediary is bound to provide technical assistance and extend all facilities to such agency to enable online access or to secure and provide online access to the computer resource generating, transmitting, receiving, or storing such traffic data or information.

Furthermore the Act also establishes Indian Computer Emergency Response Team (CERT-IN) as a national agency for incident response. So far this agency is said to be monitoring the case through the Delhi and Mumbai police. Under section 70B of the Act, the agency is entrusted with the following functions:

(a) collection, analysis and dissemination of information on cyber incidents;

(b) forecast and alerts of cyber security incidents;

(c) emergency measures for handling cyber security incidents;

(d) coordination of cyber incidents response activities;

(e) issue guidelines, advisories, vulnerability notes and white papers relating to information security practices, procedures, preventation, response and reporting of cyber incidents;

However, until now, no formal statement has been released by CERT-IN on this issue, apart from it being in touch with Git-Hub and Twitter. CERT-IN is also empowered to call for information and give direction to the service providers, intermediaries, data centres, body corporate and any other person in furtherance to carrying outs functions. A CERT-IN officer can also make a complaint to a court to any matter that arises int his regard including failure of any service providers, intermediaries, data centres, body corporate to provide the information called for or comply with the directions of CERT-IN. Despite having such wide powers, there has been no news of action taken by CERT-IN or any direction issued by it to the hosting website or even to Twitter.

Clearly, this Bulli Bai app came to light after someone discovered it (it is unclear who did), hence, the failure on the part of Twitter to pick out such content and of Git-Hub to block such content is evident and needs to be probed. However, this point is yet to be raised by any government agency.

India Today reported that officials in the ministry privy with the case said that it is also looking into if GitHub’s local coordinators or officials can be summoned to expedite the coordination between GitHub and the agencies. There has however no such update of any summons issued.

Demand for real action

The women who have been targeted on the app have demanded real action from authorities instead of merely taking “cognisance” and filing of FIRs. Former journalist Hiba Beg wrote on Twitter, “We don’t want an FIR, we want arrests. Enough of bread-crumbing – show us actual action. We cannot let this happen a third time!”

We don’t want an FIR, we want arrests. Enough of bread-crumbing – show us actual action. We cannot let this happen a third time!

— Hiba Bég (@HibaBeg) January 3, 2022

Another twitter user, Sidrah, who is a complainant, was dismayed with the “cognisance taken” action of the National Commission for Women (NCW). “Do you do anything other than taking cognisance after outrage?” she tweeted.

https://twitter.com/SidrahDP/status/

Why this case warrants stricter action

Important persons of the political class including the Union Cabinet Minister for Women & Child Development, the Prime Minister and the Home Minister have chosen to stay mum and not voice their dismay over the incident. This silence is deafening as the realisation has not dawned that it is such acts of cyber crime that  have awide scale impact and women and should not be treated as any less serious than acts of sexual violence.

Cecilia Mwende Maundu, a broadcast journalist based in Kenya and a specialist in gender digital safety told UN Women, “Online gender-based violence exists within a context similar to what happens in real life. It is just as destructive as offline violence. We now live in a virtual society and offline violence has extended to online, which makes it easier for people to commit violence without consequences. Women are the main targets of online violence, especially women with voices, like female journalists and politicians.”

World Wide Foundation conducted a survey in 2019 in which they found that 52% of young women and girls they surveyed said they’d experienced online abuse, including threatening messages, sexual harassment and the sharing of private images without consent. 87% said they think the problem is getting worse. Considerably, it noted that there has been a surge in non-consensual sharing of images designed to threaten, shame and control women. They found, “This abuse has devastating consequences for the mental wellbeing of victims as they are often left alone with their experience, an experience that is normalized and invisibilised on social media and in society in general, driving victims to silence and shame, exposing them to their perpetrators, and sometimes leading them to self-harm, depression and suicide.”

Liability of corporates

Marianna Spring, a disinformation reporter with BBC News, wrote about her personal experience of online abuse in which she stated how despite reporting comments of threats of violent sexual acts on Facebook, no action was taken and the offender’s account remained active. Reseacrh conducted by Centre for Countering Digital Hate, shows how 97% of 330 accounts sending misogynistic abuse on Twitter and Instagram remained on the site after being reported.

Spring conducted an experiment where she created a fake online persona called Barry on social media platforms and through that account followed a small amount of anti-women content and also posted some abuse on his profile – so that the algorithms could detect from the start he had an account that used abusive language about women. “After just a week, the top recommended pages to follow on both Facebook and Instagram were almost all misogynistic. By the end of the experiment, Barry was pushed more and more anti-women content by these sites – a dramatic increase from when the account had been created. Some of this content involved sexual violence, sharing disturbing memes about sex acts, and content condoning rape, harassment and gendered violence,” she said while narrating her experience. “Far from stopping Barry engaging with anti-women content, Facebook and Instagram appear to have promoted it to him. By contrast, there was no anti-women content on TikTok and very little on Twitter. YouTube suggested some videos hostile to women,” she added.

In the case of “Bulli bai”, reportedly the app remained on the site for about 24 hours or more until it was taken down after being reported. The algorithms of these websites need to be brought into question and there needs to be adequate accountability to be imposed by the government to the extent that such acts of online abuse, hatred based on religion, race, sex, caste etc are acted upon immediately. The unwillingness of these companies to develop better algorithms is indicative of their readiness to become platforms becoming means of propagating hate and violence against the vulnerable sections of society.

Related:

Three arrested in Bulli Bai case

Has inaction prompted another Muslim women’s auction on the internet?

Being a Muslim woman in India: A story

I’m a vocal Indian Muslim woman, not an object to be auctioned

The post Bulli Bai case: Are arrests enough to quell the storm? appeared first on SabrangIndia.

In fresh developments in the large-scale attempt to defame and harass women from the minority community by way of an online auction, three people have been arrested in what is being called the Bulli Bai case. What is more shocking is how right wing affiliated handles tried to pin the blame on Muslims, and later Sikhs, and shared claims that the vile social media app #SulliDeal was developed by someone named Javed Alam. Thereby suggesting that even ‘bulli bai’, may have a similar ‘ownership’.

“It’s never too late, share this info everywhere. Don’t let I$lamists make Hindus feel ashamed for their own deeds” was one such bizarre claim. This is one of those handles with a high followership that has been constantly trying to work that narrative on social media

That #SulliDeal app was developed by a guy named Javed Alam.

How many of you know that? How many of you shared this info on other social media platforms?

It’s never too late, share this info everywhere. Don’t let I$lamists make Hindus feel ashamed for their own deeds.

— Mr Sinha (@MrSinha_) January 4, 2022

However, all those attempts fell flat when Mumbai Police arrested three people – Vishal Kumar aka Vishal Jha from Bengaluru, Mayank Rawal and Shweta Singh from Uttarakhand. Vishal, a 21-year-old engineering student was detained on Monday from Bengaluru, and arrested by the Mumbai cyber police on Tuesday in connection with its probe into the two apps that “auctioned” Muslim women. According to news reports, Vishal was running one of the Twitter handles used to upload the content from the app, joint commissioner of police Milind Bharambe (crime) told the media that “several facts were verified and after his role was found involved in the crime, he was arrested. The accused was taken to the Bandra court around 4pm for his custody remand for further investigation.” Vishal was remanded in police custody till January 10.

The Mumbai police arrested 18-year-old Shweta Singh, on Tuesday, reportedly as being the prime suspect in the Bulli Bai case investigation. The Mumbai cyber police started a fresh probe into the offensive apps after registering a first information report (FIR) under sections 153A, 153 B, 295A, 354D, 509, 500 of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) along with Section 67 Information Technology Act against unknown persons on Sunday. Her name was “revealed by Vishal Kumar” who was arrested earlier in Bengaluru. He reportedly said that he was in touch with the woman and claimed that she was in touch with the people who were working on the posts and activities on the Bulli Bai app.

According to reports now emerging after Shweta’s arrest, many including India Today, and many-right wing handles have amplified how she “lost her father to Covid-19 last year and lost her mother to cancer before this. She has an elder sister who is a commerce graduate, while her younger sister and brother are school students. She was preparing for engineering entrance examinations.”

Amar Ujala also reported that the investigations have revealed that Shweta was “in contact with a Nepalese youth” and “only after that did she change the name of her Twitter handle (account).” This in effect puts the spotlight on this “Nepali man” who reportedly told Shweta to use a fake Twitter handle named JattKhalsa07. From her earlierTwitter handle named Infinity07. According to Amar Ujala the Nepali man ran a Twitter handle named Giyou, from Nepal. Mumbai Police is reportedly looking for him too.

A third arrest has been made in the case from Uttarakhand, the accused has been identified as a 21-year-old student, Mayank Rawal, and was arrested by the Mumbai cyber police from Uttarakhand. Police have sought information from GitHub, the platform used to make the app and Twitter, where links to the app were reportedly posted by several accounts.

In July 2021, nearly 80 Muslim women were targeted and put up “for sale” on “Sulli Deals”, and this time it is over 100 Muslim women who have been targeted on “Bulli Bai”. The app’s interface used Punjabi language or the Gurmukhi writing script in the app. Both Bulli and Sulli are derogatory words used for Muslim women. In both cases, there was no real sale of any kind – the purpose is to degrade and humiliate Muslim women by sharing their personal images.

The RSS mouthpiece Organiser, in August 2021, had published a “massive revelation about the mobile app ‘Sulli Deals’” claiming that a private conversation suggests the app was developed by one Javed Alam of Uttar Pradesh. An expose account @sullidealsXpose, it reported, “put out a private conversation between Alam and a Muslim woman in which Alam claims to have developed the app.” According to the Organiser’s report, on the “leaked conversation”, Alam, 23, reportedly “created the app and doesn’t regret it. He further claims that it will teach a nice lesson to those Muslim women who post their pictures on social media platforms. The RSS mouthpiece claims that according to the media the “Sulli Deals” was “handiwork of some Hindu elements”. 

However, it was a ‘editor’ of Opinida who had tweeted an endorsement of the Sulli deals. 

This is what editor/anchor or whatever he was for Opinida had tweeted 1st time round. Many ppl who call themselves journalists & are known to me endorsed this moron and/or the vile platform he was part of including you @TheJaggi about time we started calling ppl out pic.twitter.com/h5fnu3CYwy

— Abhinandan Sekhri (@AbhinandanSekhr) January 4, 2022

Support pours in, but ministers are silent

Statements of demanding investigation and punishment for the criminals behind this targetting of Muslim women, including journalists, have poured in since the news broke on January 1. Reporters Without Borders (RSF) called on the Indian authorities to intervene to put a stop to this form of harassment, which is both revolting and potentially dangerous for its targets, and noted how ““Bulli Bai” is now an insult for Muslim women throughout the country, one widely used by online trolls who support the Hindu nationalist right.”

Microsoft, GitHub’s owner, has taken the app down and India’s Electronics & Information Technology minister, Ashwini Vaishnaw, said on January 2 that the police were looking into it. The police in Mumbai announced this morning that an initial arrest had been made.

GitHub confirmed blocking the user this morning itself.
CERT and Police authorities are coordinating further action. https://t.co/6yLIZTO5Ce

— Ashwini Vaishnaw (@AshwiniVaishnaw) January 1, 2022

Priyanka Chaturvedi, a Rajya Sabha MP from the Shiv Sena was one of the first political leaders to respond, and has followed up on the issue.

Have spoken to @CPMumbaiPolice and DCP Crime Rashmi Karandikar ji. They will investigate this. Have also spoken to @DGPMaharashtra for intervention. Hoping those behind such misogynistic and sexist sites are apprehended. https://t.co/Ofo1l9dgIl

— Priyanka Chaturvedi?? (@priyankac19) January 1, 2022

However, there is deafening silence on the issue from Union Cabinet Minister for Women & Child Development and MP from Amethi, Smriti Z Irani, who has been busy sharing posts on Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s many visits. Also too busy to comment on this issue is Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi, Union Cabinet Minister of Minority Affairs.  

The onus has been on journalists, citizens’ rights groups, human rights defenders, and the victims themselves to continue making sure that justice is served in the case.

Must Watch:

“I’m a vocal Indian Muslim woman, not an object to be auctioned”, CJP Secretary Teesta Setalvad’s exclusive conversation with Noor Mahvish, the young law student who bravely spoke out after she was “listed for auction” in Sulli Deals.

Related

Has inaction prompted another Muslim women’s auction on the internet?
Being a Muslim woman in India: A story
I’m a vocal Indian Muslim woman, not an object to be auctioned
CJP approaches Twitter over sexually violent content against Muslim wom

The post Three arrested in Bulli Bai case appeared first on SabrangIndia.