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Clubhouse case: Mumbai police arrest 3 from Haryana

Fri, 21 Jan 2022 10:10:33 +0000

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.

Clubhouse jumps into Hate Conspiracy, spawns vulgar, offensive remarks on Muslim

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Apps auctioning women fuelled by a TRADition of Hate

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Clubhouse case: Delhi Police narrow down suspects

Thu, 20 Jan 2022 12:31:42 +0000

Image Courtesy:hindustantimes.com

Delhi Police Cyber Cell officials have 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.

According to a news report in the The Indian Express, the Delhi Police has claimed to have “zeroed in on some 4-5 suspects in the case and is set to question them.” Cyber Cell officials have also “sent notices to the US-based company seeking details of the users/organisers who started the group”. A notice has also been sent to Google Play Store to “keep a check” on such apps, police said that the investigating team has identified a number of participants and found “that all suspects are from adjoining states and not from Delhi. They are all adults. Mostly, the users had accounts under fake names and used aliases on Clubhouse. We heard the conversations on the app and found there were four-five main participants. We are tracing their location and they will be picked up soon,” IE quoted a source.

On Wednesday, another recording of a Clubhouse chat emerged where people were purportedly heard making vulgar remarks. Participants here included some who were also participants in the earlier vulgar discussion. Here a used named “Kira xD” and another user named “Corona” graphically discuss sexual violence against women is openly discussed by a man.

Trigger Warning: The following tweet contains offensive language and descriptions of sexual violence

Trigger Warning

Here, “Kira xD” impudently states “that girls should be laid down naked, their whole body impaled with the hot rod”. Another user – “Corona” also passes a sexist remark, when this misogynist comment is made, & leaves the room. #RapeCulture #Clubhouse
1/4 https://t.co/0e9ki5iFz0 pic.twitter.com/Rk3WTwZMT3

— Jaimine (@jaiminism) January 19, 2022

According to the IE report, police “suspect a few people might be using dubbed voices to pose as men/women. We will detain them and question them about their aliases.” However, a Clubhouse spokesperson reportedly said, “…there is absolutely no place for hate or abuse on the platform. We invest significantly in keeping our community safe and take swift action at any violation of our policies… If and when a violation of our Community Guidelines is reported and confirmed, swift action is taken i.e. suspended or permanently removed from the platform, depending on the severity of the incident. In this instance, the room was reported and those involved in organising were quickly actioned. As always, we can’t predict what humans will say but we can respond quickly once they violate our guidelines. Community health is a top priority for the platform and we have built features such as room title reporting, blocking, shared block lists, removing replays, and NSFW filters, and improved policies that account for the unique dynamics of real-time voice conversations and group discussions…”

In the @clubhouse app there are groups that openly express vilest of opinions about women.I’d suggest the @GoI_MeitY cracks down on the groups&if app doesn’t support with info take action on them too.India cannot afford to have its youth turn out to be sexist&misogynist citizens.

— Priyanka Chaturvedi?? (@priyankac19) January 19, 2022

Has action been taken against BJP supporter who abused Punjabis on Clubhouse?

Meanwhile, it is not known if any action has been taken against BJP supporter Sagar Dubey who was identified as the man making communal comments such as “remove all Punjabis from army, defence system,” during a Clubhouse discussion that had gone viral. He is a columnist of the right wing blog OpIndia, and said, “Remove every single Punjabi. Remove all generals, soldiers, from top to the bottom, remove every Punjabi from the army, national defence infrastructure… So that I never have to hear how many of them fucking go to the army.”

“Every single Punjabi ko nikaldo..
Ek baar ye Punjabi nikal jaye na toh it’ll come to light how effective they actually were… Sare Generals, sare soldiers, Top level se bottom tak har ek Punjabi ko nikaldo purey Army National defence infrastructure se”pic.twitter.com/Rto3c2SNNe

— Mohammed Zubair (@zoo_bear) January 6, 2022

According to news reports, Dubey was followed on Twitter by union minister Smriti Irani and Nupur J Sharma, ‘editor’ of the website OpIndia, but he deleted his account on the microblogging site after the video clip went viral.

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Clubhouse jumps into Hate Conspiracy, spawns vulgar, offensive remarks on Muslim women

Tue, 18 Jan 2022 14:56:42 +0000

“Trigger warning” is perhaps too gentle a phrase to describe the discussion a group of right wing affiliated men, and some women, were heard having on the Clubhouse app recently.

Recordings of the offensive discussion reveal vulgar conversations and sexual innuendoes being used to describe Muslim women. The tone is offensive to say the least and borders on the criminal, where one man claiming to be the son of a Muslim mother and Hindu father seeks to commit incest. He is ‘advised’ by his fellow right wingers to ‘get rid’ of his father and sexually ‘assault’ his mother.

Shared by social media users, the discussion exposes the filth that the mostly male dominated right wing ecosystem has, and the offensively rabid sexualisation and abuse of Muslim women that is being so openly discussed online even as those accused in Sulli Deals, Bulli Bai cases are still being investigated. “Sexually assaulting a Muslim woman is a way to gain heavenly blessings,” suggest one man, “it is even better/ like demolishing seven Babri masjids”, chimes in another, and we have decided to spare our readers the actual language and offensive words used by these men to describe Muslim women.

According to a report in Indian Express the Delhi Commission for Women (DCW) has sent a notice to the Delhi Police seeking an FIR against those who allegedly made these derogatory remarks against Muslim women during a session on the Clubhouse app. Senior officials of Delhi Police confirmed to the media that they have received the notice and are looking into the matter. The DCW took suo motu cognizance of the matter, according to IE, DCW Chairperson,

Swati Maliwal said, “Someone tagged me on Twitter (highlighting) the detailed audio conversation on the Clubhouse app, which targeted Muslim women and girls and made disgusting sexual comments against them. I feel outraged over the fact that such incidents are going on increasing in the country. Strongest action needs to be taken against the culprits and that’s why I have issued a notice to the Delhi Police seeking an immediate FIR and arrests in the matter.”

सुल्ली बाई, फिर बुल्ली बाई और अब क्लब्हाउस ऐप पे मुस्लिम लड़कियों के ख़िलाफ़ अभद्र यौन टिप्पणी! ऐसा कब तक चलेगा?

मैंने क्लब्हाउस वाले मामले में दिल्ली पुलिस को नोटिस इशू किया है की जल्द FIR कर अपराधियों को अरेस्ट करें! pic.twitter.com/rGBj5y0QFq

— Swati Maliwal (@SwatiJaiHind) January 18, 2022

This comes less than a month after the “S**li Deals” app case

This online sexual violence comes less than a month after the “ S**li Deals” app, hosted on software platform GitHub, used photos of Muslim women without their permission alongside derogatory comments meant to imply they were being “auctioned”. The UN Special Rapporteur on Minority Issues Dr Fernand de Varennes has taken note of the vile anti Muslim ‘Sulli 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.”

Delhi police arrested Aumkareshwar Thakur, 26, from Indore, Madhya Pradesh who they said was the creator of “ S**li Deals” app. While Mumbai Police had arrested three accused in the “B**li Bai case, Delhi Police arrested Neeraj Bishnoi, calling him the ‘mastermind’, he was arrested from Jorhat, Assam, and had allegedly created the app on the GitHub platform. According to Times Now’s anchor Rahul Shivashankar, the case “has no links to saffron groups”.

The three arrested by the Mumbai Police were, 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.

The ecosystem of TRADs

As reported previously by SabrangIndia, as revelations investigating the two apps that provided 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.

Apps auctioning women fuelled by a TRADition of Hate

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’

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