Two days after a case was registered by the Mumbai Cyber Cell in connection to the photographs of prominent Muslim women being uploaded for auction online on an application, Bulli Bai, the police have detained a 21-year-old civil engineering student from Bengaluru on Monday. While the hosting platform, GitHub, has blocked the site, police claim that the engineering student is one of the main accused in this case.
The incident came to light after a woman tweeted on receiving her own photo that had been uploaded on the social platform with the #BulliBai for auction. According to the police sources, the student was brought to Mumbai, however, after questioning, if there are any leads to prove his role in the crime, he will likely be arrested later in the night and produced before a local magistrate court on Tuesday.
Police official said that the detained student is one of the four followers of the Bulli Bai page, who are suspected of doctoring the images of over 100 prominent Muslim women.
Shiv Sena Rajya Sabha MP Priyanka Chaturvedi, who intervention had led to the Mumbai police FIR, tweeted "Nothing much to say, except Mumbai Police continues to be the beacon of hope and justice."
The Maharashtra Minister of State for Home and Information Technology Satej Patil tweeted on Monday: "@MumbaiPolice has got a breakthrough. Though we cannot disclose the details at this moment as it may hamper the ongoing investigation. I would like to assure all the victims that we are proactively chasing the culprits and they will face the law very soon."
Patil had earlier questioned IT Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw on the incident. " Was there any action taken against the said handles in June 2021 by Centre in SulliDeals case? Were the platforms involved informed about these handles by Central Govt.? All these platforms are headquartered outside India," he asked on twitter adding, "What provisions do we have for data transfer? Was MLAT invoked in this case? The Central Govt had brought controversial regulations on Digital Media platforms last year, but if they are not used in such cases to prevent crime against women & children, then what is the use of them?"
An investigating team was formed after a case was registered under the IPC sections for 153(A) (spreading enmity), 153(B) (imputations, assertions to national integration), 295(A) (outraging religious feelings), 354D (stalking), 509 (sexual harassment), 500 (defamation) and under IT act section 67 (publishes or transmits obscene materials) against above mentioned twitter handle holders and ‘Bulli Bai’ app developer hosted on GitHub.
