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Less than a year after Sulli Deals (Read: Sulli is a derogatory term used by right-wing trolls for Muslim women), an app that held online “auctions” of Indian Muslim women sparked controversy, a similar app called ‘Bulli Bai’ surfaced on January 1 – a horrific start of 2022. Shared on the open-source platform GitHub, the app sourced images of women without permission, targeting Muslim women who speak out about social and political issues on social media. Several women including journalists and activists shared their stories of finding out that their pictures have been put up on the app labelled under “Your Bulli Bai of the day.”
The re-emergence of yet another disgusting version of the Sulli Deals app stirred a fresh row. Following outrage on social media and several complaints against Bulli Bai, the Mumbai Police Cyber Cell registered an FIR against the app-makers. And now, an arrest has reportedly been made. As per reports in the Times of India, a 21-year-old Bengaluru student who is believed to be a suspect in the investigation has been detained and brought to Mumbai.
Without disclosing much information about the case, Satej Patil, the Maharashtra Minister of State for Home and IT tweeted about a “breakthrough” and explained that the authorities are looking for the perpetrators actively.
Update on #BulliBai case:@MumbaiPolice has got a breakthrough.Though we cannot disclose the details at this moment as it may hamper the ongoing investigation, I would like to assure all the victims that we are proactively chasing the culprits & they will face the law very soon.
— Satej (Bunty) D. Patil (@satejp) January 3, 2022
As per additional reports on The News Minute, a senior IPS officer revealed that the now-detained suspect was traced through the IP address of Twitter accounts used to upload the pictures found on the app. “The 21-year-old is a second-year civil engineering student. He used his Twitter handle to share derogatory content from the Bulli Bai app. We have detained him,” he said.
Bulli Bai, another shocking example of misogyny and Muslim hate in India has garnered massive backlash from social media users and political figures alike. The app saw hundreds of women listed for “auctions” yet again after Sulli Deals. And while both apps have been taken down, no notable arrests were made in the previous Sulli Deals case. Perhaps that’s precisely how another version of the app was able to surface. There seems to be some progress this time around, however, real strides to tackle the grave issue can only be made once the perpetrators are caught for their crimes. It remains to be seen how the investigation progresses further.
Cover image: Twitter
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