A 21-year-old engineering student was detained in Bangalore during a raid by a Mumbai police team in connection with the “Bulli Bai” controversy. The Mumbai cyber crime cell then arrested the defendants, the sources told CNN-News18.
The student was taken to Mumbai, but the police did not release any other information. The controversy, which cropped on January 1, led the Bulli Bai application, on the Github hosting platform, to list and publish the photos of hundreds of Muslim women at "auctions", obtained without authorization and manipulated. This has happened for the second time in less than a year. The app appeared to be a Sulli Deals clone which sparked a similar row last year.
Both names are derogatory terms for Muslim women. The arrested student was one of Bulli Bai's followers who led him to the police.
Github had provided space for Sulli Deals and this time too, the offending app was built on the platform. After the controversy, Github had removed the user from its hosting platform.
But by then, Bulli Bai had sparked a nationwide controversy. The app was also promoted by a Twitter handle by the name of @bullibai, with the image posted of a Khalistani supporter.
This Twitter ID endorsed the Bulli Bai app saying women can be booked from the app. This id was also promoting Khalistani content at the same time.
Priyanka Chaturvedi, leader of Shiv Sena and member of the Rajya Sabha, wrote to Mumbai Police, after which the case was lodged. Delhi police have also filed a complaint in this regard.
When the Sulli Deal controversy erupted, two FIRs were filed against strangers, but the culprits were never located or arrested.
Meanwhile, Delhi Police searched the GitHub platform for details of mobile app developer "Bulli Bai" and asked Twitter to block and remove associated "offensive content" on its platform. . Police also searched Twitter for information on the account handler who first tweeted about the app.
Leaders from across the political spectrum condemned the cyber harassment of women belonging to the minority community and called for tough action against the guilty.
Describing the matter as "serious", the Delhi Minorities Commission issued a notice to the city's police chief, Rakesh Asthana, requesting an action-taken report on January 10. It said that the interests of Muslim women must be safeguarded by catching the culprits. The Delhi Commission for Women (DCW) also asked police officers to appear before it later this week.
Also Read | The Omicron cases in India stands at 1,700; Maharashtra most affected, here's the state break
Read all Latest News, Health, Sports and Entertainment here