After “Bulli Bai”, Facebook pages and a Telegram channel allegedly targeting Hindu women have now surfaced. Union Minister for Electronics and Information Technology Ashwini Vaishnaw on Wednesday assured action against them and said that the channel has been taken down.
In reply to a complaint on Twitter regarding the Telegram Channel, Vaishnaw said, “Channel blocked. Government of India coordinating with police authorities of states for action.” Several abusive pages and groups on Facebook have also surfaced, complaints against whom had been tweeted by a Twitter user, to which Union Minister of State for Electronics and Information Technology Rajeev Chandrasekhar said that had he has directed the authorities concerned to inform Meta and to get them taken down. “Have directed Government of India MeitY team to inform Meta and have it taken down,” Chandrasekhar said in a tweet.
The IT Ministers were replying to complaints of a YouTuber by the name of Anshul Saxena, who alleged that the Telegram channel, groups and pages on Facebook were targeting Hindu women, sharing their photos and abusing them. According to Saxena, the Telegram Channel was created in June 2021.
Earlier, based on the complaint of a woman journalist at the Delhi Cyber police station in which she alleged that her photos were uploaded on the website “Bulli Bai” to target her, and harass and insult Muslim women on social media and the internet, cases were registered with both Delhi and Mumbai Police.
Previously, Delhi Police Special Cell had in July 2021 registered an FIR against the creators of a mobile application “SULLI DEAL” for allegedly uploading photos of Muslim women without their consent, using inappropriate remarks against them. The app allegedly uploads photos of women without their consent and uses the hosting platform “GITHUB” to auction the stolen photos.
Meanwhile, the “Bulli Bai” case has been transferred to the Intelligence Fusion and Strategic Operations (IFSO) unit of the Special Cell, said K.P.S. Malhotra, Deputy Commissioner of Police (DCP) IFSO Delhi on Wednesday.
Hundreds of Muslim women were listed for “auction” on the “Bulli Bai” mobile application with photographs sourced without permission and doctored. It has happened for the second time in less than a year. The app appeared to be a clone of “Sulli Deals” which triggered a similar row last year.
An engineering student from Bengaluru, a young girl from Uttarakhand, and one of her friends have been arrested by Mumbai Police in connection with the “Bulli Bai” app case. “Three people have been arrested in the ‘Bulli Bai’ app case, including Vishal Kumar Jha and Shweta Singh. The third accused is Shweta’s friend,” said Hemant Nagrale, Mumbai Police Commissioner.
Uttarakhand DGP Ashok Kumar said that Shweta Singh, who is allegedly the mastermind behind the app, comes from a very poor family. “Her father has died, it looks she did it for money,” said Kumar.