News Analysis India

Tag: Bulli bai

  • Ex-students of prominent institutes write to PM, president over ‘Bulli Bai’, ‘Sulli Deals’ cases

    By PTI

    NEW DELHI: Over 250 former students of prominent institutions across the country, including the IIT-Bombay, the Xavier School of Management (XLRI), the Delhi University (DU) and the National Institute of Design (NID), have written an open letter to Prime Minister Narendra Modi and President Ram Nath Kovind, demanding immediate action against the accused in the “Bulli Bai” and “Sulli Deals” apps cases.

    They alleged that women in the country have never been more unsafe in online and offline spaces.

    Asserting that the “silence of those at the helm” regarding such incidents indicates an apathy towards women’s safety and emboldens the perpetrators of these hate crimes, they urged the leaders to take quick steps to ensure justice to the affected women.

    The signatories to the letter also requested the government to set up school curricula that engage young girls and boys around issues of positive masculinity, gender and gender socialisation from an early age.

    “There is a constriction of the spaces for expression and participation of women, especially from minority groups, Dalit women and girls. The social system and political economy have been historically stacked against women. Growing incidences of intimidation and harassment of women across various spaces indicate a threat to the gains made through these past efforts,” the open letter read.

    “Women in India have never been more unsafe both in online and offline spaces. From physical harm to sexual violence to outright violation of dignity and rights in online spaces seems to have become commonplace enough for our political leaders to not notice anymore.”

    “Adding to this is the rising culture of hate and divisiveness in the country, which also affects women disproportionately. Incidents like Sulli Deals and Bulli Bai are manifestations of this culture that targets women, minority women in these cases, for daring to have a voice of their own. Dalit women and girls have also been at the receiving end of violence in many spheres,” it added.

    The “Sulli Deals” app had triggered widespread outrage as it had put out details of more than 100 prominent Muslim women, allowing users to participate in an “auction” of those women.

    The accused was arrested by the Delhi Police’s Special Cell from Indore in Madhya Pradesh earlier this month.

    The “Bulli Bai” app too targeted Muslim women by putting them up for an “auction”.

    “We are writing this open letter expressing our solidarity with women and girls who have to face this violence. We urge that the makers of these apps be brought to justice, demand condemnation of such hate-driven actions and speeches by the government and urge the current leadership to work with IT and media companies to ensure accountability in keeping such channels safe for women,” the letter read.

  • Alumni of prominent institutions write to PM Narendra Modi over Sulli Deals and Bulli Bai

    By IANS

    NEW DELHI: Alumni of various prominent institutions have written to President Ram Nath Kovind, Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Members of Parliament, drawing their attention to rising incidents of crime against women in the country, and have called upon the leaders to condemn such actions and initiate steps to protect rights and dignity of all women.

    The letter has been written in the backdrop of recent incidents like Sulli Deals and Bulli Bai. “They are manifestations of the culture that target women, for daring to have a voice of their own,” the letter Said.

    The letter said that there are increasing instances of intimidation and harassment of women across various spaces. The letter emphasises that women in India have never been more unsafe both online and offline spaces, the threat of physical harm, sexual violence and outright violation of dignity and rights in online spaces seems to have become commonplace enough for our political leaders to not notice anymore.

    There is a constriction of the spaces for expression and participation of women, especially from minority groups, dalit women and girls.

    The letter urges leaders to break their silence and apathy towards the issue of women’s safety. “In this atmosphere of silence not only do the perpetrators of such crimes often go scot-free, they are getting emboldened by the increasing atmosphere of hate and divisiveness in the country and barely show any remorse for hate filled misogynistic crimes,” it said.

    It demanded that steps should be taken including, action against perpetrators when such cases are reported. Condemnation of such hate-driven actions/speeches at the highest levels of the government, working with IT and media companies to ensure their accountability in keeping their channels safe for women. Engaging with young girls and boys around issues of positive masculinity, gender, and gender socialization from an early age through school curriculum.

    The Open letter initiated by a group of alumni from IRMA was soon joined by over like minded alumni from prominent institutions across the country, and has over 250 signatures.

    The letter has been written by alumni of Institute of Rural Management, Anand (IRMA) joined by alumni of other prominent institutions including Lady Shri Ram College, IIT Bombay, National Institute of Design (NID), XLRI, Miranda House.

  • ‘Bulli Bai’ app case complainant receives threat calls on her phone, Mumbai cyber cops launch probe

    By PTI

    MUMBAI: Mumbai Police’s cyber department registered a Non-Cognizable (NC) offence against an unidentified person after a complainant in the “Bulli Bai” app case told them that she had received threat calls on her phone, an official said on Monday.

    The complainant told the police that the caller threatened her over the phone and asked why she revealed their names and filed FIR against them, the official at the Cyber police station in the Bandra Kurla Complex said.

    An NC case was registered against an unidentified person on Saturday, he added.

    He said the police are investigating how the caller got the mobile phone number of the complainant.

    No FIR was registered and further investigation is underway, the official added.

    The case pertains to the creation of the ‘Bulli Bai’ app, which targeted Muslim women by putting up their images online for “auction”.

    Mumbai cyber police had arrested Shweta Singh and Mayank Rawal from Uttarakhand and Vishal Kumar Jha from Bengaluru.

    The Delhi police’s special cell, which has also registered an FIR in the case, on January 6 arrested one Niraj Bishnoi from Assam.

    According to the police, Bishnoi was the main creator of the app.

  • ‘Bulli Bai’ app case: Mastermind Niraj Bishnoi’s intention was to get publicity, make own identity, says police

    By PTI

    NEW DELHI: The investigation in the ‘Bulli Bai’ application case has so far suggested that the intention of the mastermind was to get publicity and make an identity of his own, the Delhi Police said on Friday.

    The probe has so far not revealed anyone else’s involvement in motivating Niraj Bishnoi (21) into doing such activities and his action can be attributed to the type of social media content he consumed, it said.

    Police officials said there is a possibility about his alleged involvement in the earlier ‘Sulli Deals’ case and that they are investigating the matter.

    “There is a possibility that his network is linked to Sulli Deals. The devices used by him are being scanned. Through him, we might also reach the culprits of Sulli Deals,” they said.

    Interestingly, in a case registered in southwest district where a woman journalist had registered a complaint, Bishnoi had allegedly posed as a media person and tried to mislead the investigation by the cyber cell unit, police said.

    “During the Sulli Deal probe, he tried to mislead our team by calling them on WhatsApp by impersonating himself as a media person. He also tried to extract information about the developments in the probe. We found this through his phone records,” the police official said.

    Bishnoi, the creator of the Bulli Bai application, had earlier also created an account on Twitter making lewd remarks on the picture of a complainant and even tweeted about the auction of the person, police said on Friday.

    One of such accounts came into light when the Sulli Deals case was under investigation.

    Through this handle, he had tried to plant some information regarding the possible propagator/originator of the Sulli Deals app, they said.

    With the arrest of the engineering student, the Delhi Police had said it has solved the case related to hundreds of Muslim women being listed for “auction” on the Bulli Bai app on the Github platform.

    During interrogation, it was found that Bishnoi had earlier created various Twitter handles with the initial name of “giyu” which is a gaming character.

    The handles have been identified as @giyu2002, @giyu007, @giyuu84, @giyu94 and @giyu44, a senior police officer said.

    “The account @giyu2002 has been found associated with an FIR registered at the Kishangarh Police Station in southwest Delhi. In this case, from this Twitter account, he had made lewd remarks on the picture of a complainant and even tweeted about the auction of the same,” Deputy Commissioner of Police (Cyber) K P S Malhotra said.

    The account @giyu44 was created by the accused on January 3, 2022 with specific agenda to demean the arrests by Mumbai Police in the Bulli Bai app case and to throw an open challenge to law enforcement agencies to nab him.

    Bishnoi had also tried to show his identity from Nepal, police said.

    “The account @giyu007 came into light when the Sulli Deal case was under investigation. Through this handle, he had tried to plant some information regarding the possible propagator/originator of Sulli Deals app,” police said.

    During this time, Bishnoi also created a fake profile of a girl and tried to communicate to the investigating agency as a news reporter.

    Further, he came in contact with various news reporters and tried to plant his misinformation with his nefarious goals, the DCP said.

    The father of the accused runs a ration shop and the accused has two elder sisters, police said.

    Further investigation is underway, he said.

    Bishnoi, a resident of Jorhat who studies computer science engineering in Bhopal, was the fourth person to be arrested for their alleged involvement in the case.

    The other three, nabbed by Mumbai Police, include a 19-year-old woman from Uttarakhand, also alleged to be a prime accused in the case.

    The Bulli Bai app was developed in November last year and updated in December.

    Bishnoi was also keenly monitoring social media.

    Bishnoi disclosed during his interrogation that he created the “Bulli Bai” app on Github as well as the @bullibai_Twitter handle and others too, police said.

    The Twitter account was created on December 31.

  • Bulli Bai app probe: Sikh names were used to mislead, says Mumbai Police

    By PTI

    MUMBAI: The persons involved in the promotion of the `Bulli Bai’ app targeting Muslim women used names related to the Sikh community in Twitter handles in an attempt to mislead, Mumbai Police said on Wednesday.

    This could have led to communal tension which the prompt arrests of three accused averted, the police said in a release.

    Earlier, Mumbai police commissioner Hemant Nagrale had told reporters that police were probing why such aliases were used.

    “Names related to the Sikh community were used to make it look like these Twitter handles had been created by persons from that community,” the police release issued in the evening said.

    The women who were targeted were Muslim, so there was a possibility that it could have created “enmity between two communities” and led to “breach of public peace”, it said.

    “As the accused were arrested in time”, this was avoided, the police said.

    The app, hosted on the GitHub platform, displayed photographs of women for “virtual auction”, the release said, pointing out that this was similar to the Sullideals app case which had surfaced six months ago.

    The accused shared photos from the Bulli Bai app on Twitter by using handles like @bullibai_, @sage0x11, @jatkhalsa7, @wannabesigmaf, @jatkhalsa and @Sikh_khalsa11.

    The information on the Twitter handle of the app claimed that its creator was “KSF Khalsa Sikh Force”, while another Twitter handle, “Khalsa Supremacist”, was its follower, the release said.

    During the technical analysis, police found the involvement of Vishal Kumar Jha (21), a second year civil engineering student of Dayanand Sagar College of engineering, Bengaluru, it said.

    The`Khalsa Supremacist’ handle, allegedly used by Jha, mentioned the user’s location as Canada, the release said.

    He also ran a YouTube channel called “Tavasya Vats”.

    Police recovered a mobile phone, two SIM cards and a laptop from him.

    A senior police official told PTI that the Twitter handle of the app was created by `prime accused’ Shweta Singh (18) who was arrested from Rudrapur in Uttarakhand.

    She had passed her class 12 exam in the science stream and was preparing for joining an engineering course, he said.

    Mayank Rawal (21), the third accused, was also an engineering student, police said.