Mumbai cybercops to probe online vile attack on Muslim women

Sickening attempts were made to target prominent Muslim women voices by doctoring their photographs and "auctioning" them on the internet in the new year. The crime perpetrated through an app - Bulli Bai - hosted on GitHub sparked massive outrage across the country. A woman from Mumbai and another from Delhi have approached the police, while the Centre has said that the user behind the app has been blocked.

The coordinated attack was carried out to objectify and dehumanise over 100 successful Muslim women, including journalists, scholars, activists and students. A handful of them had to deactivate their Twitter accounts.

Ismat Ara, Delhi-based journalist

Delhi-based journalist Ismat Ara, one of the complainants, told mid-day, "This has been happening repeatedly against a set of Muslim women who are vocal on social media. This is a way to shut up women by making sexual remarks on them, maligning their character, constantly humiliating and degrading them."

"These people are also showing thumb to the police that they will do what they want as the cops are not taking stringent action. The police must take it as a challenge and arrest them," she said.

City-based Sidrah Patel has filed a complaint with the Cyber Cell of Mumbai police.

Sayema Rehman, radio jockey; (right) Hasiba Amin, Congress functionary

"I learnt about this vile attack through a friend who told me that it has begun again. I was not targeted in Sulli Deals campaign against Muslim women but this time they targeted me as well. So, I have approached Mumbai police and got an FIR registered," said Patel.

In July 2021, similar crimes had been committed through another app, but there was no concrete action by authorities.

Popular radio jockey Sayema Rehman was also targeted. "There are many Muslim names, including mine, in the obnoxious Bulli Deals, same as Sulli Deals. Even Najeeb's mother has not been spared. It's a reflection on India's broken justice system, a dilapidated law and order arrangement. Are we becoming the most unsafe country for women?" RJ Sayema wrote on Twitter.

Sayema told mid-day, "There has been a coordinated attack to silence progressive Muslim women for quite some time. This is nothing new… I have been facing cyberbullying, mental harassment, morphing of my images on social media and absolutely unparliamentary languages for the last four years. And it is all because I am a progressive Muslim woman."

"Around six months ago when the crooks started Sulli Deals campaign to auction Muslim women, upped their images for sale, they were made ‘deals of the day', etc. It was extremely shocking!" Sayema said.

"The word here is impunity because whoever did this has absolutely no fear of law. The scarier part is the silence of the establishment. If this is not the wake-up call for the government machinery, then what else?" she wondered.

"Multiple FIRs were registered during Sulli Deals time, around six months ago. That time, too, only the links were taken down. How was even that an action! None of the accused was identified nor arrested," she added.

"Many accounts reared their heads claiming that they created Sulli Deals… but the police remained a silent spectator on cyberspace," she said.

"If a person who made vicious remarks against a cricketer's daughter can be arrested, then why can't the accused who have been making communal attacks to shame Muslim women on social media? What's stopping the police to arrest the accused?" Sayema wondered.

"My only expectation, as a citizen of this country, from the authority is to guarantee our safety of women living here. This is an organised attack… this is an attempt to silence progressive voices... It's a communal attack because here all the victims are Muslim women. I will hold the government accountable for this," she said.

Had taken up with IT minister: Chaturvedi

MP Priyanka Chaturvedi said three women whose photos were uploaded on the offensive app had approached her and were suggested to approach the Mumbai police.

"I have been pursuing this ever since Sulli Deals came into my knowledge back in the month of July and I had taken this to the IT minister. Unfortunately, they shrugged off their responsibility by saying that they have asked the platform to lock the site but that's not the only way to deter such people; it is going to be useless till the action is not taken against these individuals who have been behind these sites," Chaturvedi told mid-day.

"How many sites will you block as they keep getting emboldened? Any woman will be upset to know that their photographs are being used for auctioning purpose on such websites without their knowledge. So, action must be taken against these extremist groups of people; we have to get to the crux of the matter," she said.

"Simultaneously, social media platforms have to cooperate, they cannot keep stonewalling under the garb of ‘servers are abroad' or ‘intermediary safe harbour' that has been given to them. We cannot afford these excuses in a democracy like this when women are at risk and sexually abused. The whole episode must be taken seriously by the both - Home Ministry as well as IT ministry," she demanded.

Deputy Commissioner of Police (Cyber) Dr Rashmi Karandikar said, "West region Cyber police station has registered a case under sections 153A, 153B, 295A, 354D, 509, 500 of Indian Penal Code and section 67 of Information Technology Act against the Twitter handle holders and Bulli Bai app developer hosted on GitHub."

‘No response in six months'

Congress functionary Hasiba Amin said, "I had also registered one FIR in Delhi but the police showed cold response. No development has taken place in the last six months. It is the reason I did not approach Delhi police this time," Amin told mid-day.

She said this is the third time that progressive Muslim women have been targeted. "All this started with Sulli Deals. Then, the links were pulled down after a few FIRs were registered. But again the extremist group reared their head in May during Eid after Muslim women uploaded their festival photographs," she added.

"They created a YouTube channel ‘Liberal Doge', went live by uploading photographs of Muslim women on a live streaming act and auctioned it. The extremist men would make vulgar remarks by explaining the body features of the woman whose photo was on live streaming," she said. "All these were raised in the parliament by Dr Mohammad Javed from Kishanganj district of Bihar, still the Delhi police did not work on this," she added.

Agencies must track footprints: Experts

Cyber expert Govind Ray said, "To post a project [on GitHub] one needs to create an account, so there is surely going to be the online footprints. It's important for agencies to trace back the offenders as it's a huge trauma for the women whose pictures and names were posted on the application."
Another expert Ritesh Bhatia said, "Cops should seek IP and login details from GitHub and Twitter. Similar details should be asked for Sulli Deals incident and the technical information for both should be compared for similarities."

02
No. of FIRs registered so far

100
Approx. no. of women targeted through the app