News Analysis India

Tag: Bulli bai app

  • Bulli Bai app case: Accused Vishal Jha denied bail by sessions court

    By PTI

    MUMBAI: A sessions court in Mumbai on Monday denied bail to an accused in the Bulli Bai app case.

    The Bulli Bai app had made public the details of several Muslim women in a bid to malign them, allowing users to participate in their ‘auction’.

    This was the second attempt of the accused Vishal Jha to seek bail, with his earlier plea being rejected by a magistrate court.

    On Monday, additional sessions judge S J Gharat denied him bail, though a detailed order has not been made available as yet.

    Jha was held by Mumbai police’s cyber wing in January.

  • Bulli Bai app case: Mumbai cops arrest MBA graduate in Odisha 

    By PTI

    MUMBAI: The cyber police of the Mumbai crime branch on Thursday arrested a 28-year-old man from Odisha in connection with the case of Bulli Bai app, which targeted Muslim women by putting up their images online for “auction”, an official said.

    The accused, identified as Neeraj Singh, is an MBA degree holder.

    He was involved in the planning of the app with the main accused, he said.

    “His role came to light during the interrogation of the accused who were arrested earlier, following which a team of the cyber police station was sent to Odisha and he was placed under arrest,” the official said.

    Singh is being brought to Mumbai and will be produced in a court here, he said.

    With his arrest, the Mumbai police have so far arrested four persons in the case.

    Earlier, Shweta Singh (18) and Mayank Rawal (21) were arrested from Uttarakhand, while engineering student Vishal Kumar Jha (21) was held from Bengaluru.

    Neeraj Bishnoi, one of the alleged main conspirators in the Bulli Bai app case, had been arrested by Delhi police from Assam.

    The Mumbai police had registered a First Information Report (FIR) against unidentified persons following complaints that doctored photographs of hundreds of Muslim women were uploaded for ‘auction’ on the app called `Bulli Bai’, hosted on the open-source software platform GitHub.

    While there was no actual `auction’ or `sale’, the purpose of the app seemed to be to humiliate and intimidate the targeted women, many of whom are active social media users.

  • ‘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: 21-year-old engineering student detained from Bengaluru

    By ANI

    MUMBAI: Mumbai Police Cyber Cell detained a 21-year-old engineering student from Bengaluru, in connection with the ‘Bulli Bai’ application case on Monday.

    Mumbai Police has not revealed the identity of the suspect detained from Bengaluru yet, except for his age. Police have registered a case against unknown culprits under relevant sections of IPC and the IT Act.

    Earlier in the day, Mumbai Police had also filed a first information report (FIR) against unknown persons based on complaints that doctored photographs of women were uploaded for auction on ‘Bulli Bai’ application hosted by GitHub platform.

    On Sunday, West Mumbai Cyber Police station registered a case against the ‘Bulli Bai’ app developers and Twitter handles that promoted the app.

    The case has been registered against the unknown culprits under sections 153(A) (Promoting enmity between different groups on grounds of religion etc), 153(B) (Imputations, assertions prejudicial to national integration), 295(A) (Deliberate and malicious acts, intended to outrage religious feelings), 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.

    After both the Delhi and Mumbai police lodged FIR in the matter under relevant sections, Union Minister for Electronics and Information Technology Ashwini Vaishnaw, in a tweet on Sunday said, “Government of India is working with police organizations in Delhi and Mumbai on this matter.”