Indian Student Suspected of Creating App to Auction Off Muslim Women Has 'No Remorse', Media Says
12:21 GMT 07.01.2022 (Updated: 10:41 GMT 19.07.2022)
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On 1 January, a scandal erupted in India as Muslim women, including journalists, social workers, and celebrities, found themselves listed for an "online auction" on a notorious app called "Bulli Bai". The Mumbai Police have arrested four students from different states in connection with the case.
Neeraj Bishnoi, the creator of the app "Bulli Bai" and who was arrested on Thursday, has not shown any remorse over his act. During questioning, he said what he did was "the right thing", local media outlets reported.
A source revealed to the Indian news channel, NDTV, that 21-year-old Bishnoi was used by right-wing extremists to "auction" off Indian Muslim women.
The police have since recovered the device that was used to create "Bulli Bai" and revealed that the app was actually developed in November and gained prominence on 31 December.
Bishnoi, a second-year engineering student at an institute based in Bhopal, in the state of Madhya Pradesh, came to the attention of police after he mocked Mumbai cops over the arrest of the wrong people in the case. He also claimed that he was the mastermind behind the notorious app.
You have arrested the wrong person, slumbai police
— . (@giyu44) January 5, 2022
I am the creator of #BulliBaiApp
Got nothing to do with the two innocents whom u arrested, release them asap mf https://t.co/QJA078wSnH pic.twitter.com/ycbDuc7cNS
While the Mumbai Police were probing the matter, with the arrest of three other students in this case, the Delhi Police tracked down Bishnoi through the digital surveillance of another Twitter handle - @bullibai - he had created. The account has been suspended by the microblogging site.
Bishnoi's father, Dashrath, however, has told the news website The Quint that he never heard his son "make Islamophobic or sexist remarks".
"My son would spend day and night on his laptop. I had no idea what was going on...I know he didn't do what people are accusing him of", Dashrath said.
The Mumbai Cyber Police also arrested engineering student Vishal Kumar Jha, 21, 19-year-old Shweta Singh, and 21-year-old science student Mayank Rawal.
The accused had allegedly sourced the photographs and put them up on the app without the individuals' permission, in an apparent attempt to target and harass Muslim women.
After #SulliDeals, the next one has come up - #Bullibai.This one has also been made via the GitHub platform.The policemen who took no action on the complaints filed against Sulli Deals too are perpetrators of this ongoing hate crime. pic.twitter.com/Xax9OCq1br
— ️Ladeeda Farzana (@ladeedafarzana) January 2, 2022
"Bulli Bai" appears to be a clone of a similar app called "Sulli Deals", which sparked an uproar in July 2021 after photos of dozens of Muslim women were uploaded for auction as the "deal of the day".
"Sulli" and "Bulli" are derogatory words used by some Hindus to describe Muslim women.
In the case of "Bulli Bai", several police complaints have been filed in three different states — Uttar Pradesh, Maharashtra, and Telangana, as well as in the national capital — Delhi.
The case is being investigated by both Mumbai Police's cybersecurity team and Delhi's Intelligence Fusion and Strategic Operations (IFSCO) unit which is also probing the "Sulli Deals" case.
