A computer application that posted photos of more than 100 Muslim women ‘for sale’ in India has been removed from the web platform.
The women, whose photos the computer application posted, filed a complaint with the Indian police in two states, complaining about the Twitter hashtags used to share images and content with the developers of the application called Bulli Bai.
Thereupon, the web platform called GitHub removed the application.
In India, Muslim women are harassed by being offered for sale by second online auction.
In July, a website and computer application called ‘Sulli Deals’ created profiles of more than 80 Muslim women using the photos they uploaded to the internet and offered them for sale as the “opportunity of the day”.
There was no real selling transaction on both occasions. The aim was to harass Muslim women by only posting private photos.
Sulli is the Indian slang name given to Muslim women by right-wing trolls. Likewise, the word ‘bulli’ is used as a derogatory term.
Journalist Ismat Asra, whose name and photos were put on the Bulli Bai app, filed a complaint with Delhi police at the weekend on charges of inciting religious hatred and sexual harassment.
Mumbai police also filed a criminal complaint against some Twitter hashtags and the developers of the app, following the complaint of another woman on the Bulli Bai list.
Bulli Bai’s list included journalists, activists, an award-winning movie star, and even the mother of a college student who went missing in 2016.
Many women whose names and photos were posted on the Bulli Bai app posted messages on their Twitter accounts over the weekend expressing how horrified they were.
In the ‘Sulli Opportunities’ case, however, no arrest has been made despite the passage of six months.
Journalist Ismat Asra told Al Jazeera that no progress was made in the investigation, which led to disappointment.
“It is truly disappointing that those who incite such hatred continue to target Muslim women with impunity without fear of sanctions,” Asra said in her complaint.
Ashwini Vaishnaw, India’s Minister of Information and Technology, said that the GitHub platform has blocked the user who installed the application in question and that the police are cooperating with cyber organizations to investigate.
Priyanka Chaturvedi, one of the parliamentarians of the Shiv Sena party, said that “beyond blocking, it is also important to punish the criminals” and noted that the new application came out because those who created the Sulli Opportunities site have not been punished yet.
Harassment of Muslim women
In its 2018 report, Amnesty International stated that the more a woman speaks out in India, the more likely she is to be harassed.
It is reported that harassment against Muslim women has increased in India in recent years.
“This planned attack is an attempt to take the microphone from the hands of educated women who are speaking out against Islamophobia,” said Nazia Erum, the author of the Amnesty International report, speaking to the BBC at the time the ‘Sulli Opportunities’ news was published last year.