The year 2022 began with a controversial app “auctioning” photos of over 100 Muslim women to online bidders and has now sparked outrage among community members. According to ANI, on January 4, a 21-year-old engineering student from Bengaluru was arrested by the Mumbai Police Crime Branch on his Twitter handle for “sharing derogatory content” from an app allegedly designed to “insult Muslim women”. was detained for using
Several media reports said that the student was detained from Bengaluru and brought to Mumbai. He is likely to be arrested. The controversial app also included photographs of lead actress Shabana Azmi, wife of a sitting Delhi High Court judge, several journalists, activists and politicians, which were uploaded for auction on an app.
The controversy erupted over the app called ‘Bulli Bai’, similar to the ‘Sully Deal’ last July, in which around 80 Muslim women were put ‘for sale’.
What is this controversy related to Bulli Bai app?
The ‘Bully Bye’ app was created on GitHub, the Microsoft-owned open software development site. In this the word ‘bully’ is a derogatory term used in local slang for Muslim women. Profiles on the app included photos and other personal details of the victims, which were being created and shared without the consent of the women.
The incident went viral when a woman journalist shared a picture of her being sold as the ‘deal of the day’ on the Bulli Buy app. “It is very sad that as a Muslim woman you have to start your new year with this fear and hatred,” the journalist said on Twitter.
Qurtulain Rahbar, a journalist from Kashmir, was also listed in the ‘online auction’. This may sound absurd, but this is not the first time such an incident has happened.
What was the Sully Deal?
This was the second attempt in the past months to harass Muslim women in India by “auctioning” them online. In July 2020, a similar app called “Sulli Deals” surfaced, in which several Muslim women were put up for “auction” to online bidders.
The app showed profiles of over 80 Muslim women without their consent, using photos uploaded by them online and putting their names in the ‘deal of the day’ category. The word “suli” is a derogatory term used for Muslim women.
dissatisfaction with the app
The controversy has sparked outrage on social media from several sections of the society including top politicians from all parties. Shiv Sena MP Priyanka Chaturvedi raised the issue and claimed that she has repeatedly told Union Information Technology Minister Ashwini Vaishnav to take a strong stand against “large-scale malpractices and communal targeting of women through platforms like #sullideals”. Action should be taken.
It is a matter of shame that it is constantly being ignored.
At the same time, former Congress President Rahul Gandhi said, “Insults to women and communal hatred will stop only when we all stand against it in one voice. Saal has changed, Haal bhi badalo – ab bolna hoga!”
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