Delhi High Court Bar Association Condemns Act Of Developing And Hosting Of "Bulli Bai" App

The Delhi High Court Bar Association has condemned the act of developing and hosting of the "Bulli Bai" app in an emergent meeting of it's Executive Committee held today.

The Bulli Bai App is similar to the 'Sulli Deals' which also resulted in a controversy last year by offering 'sullis', a derogatory word trolls would use for Muslim women. GitHub was also the host for that App.

"Resolved that the Delh High Court Bar Association unequivocally and in the strongest terms condemns the malicious, mischevious and reprehensible act of creating, developing and hosting of the App 'Bulli Bai' allowing the users to participate in a false auction of several respectable ladies," the resolution reads.

It has further been stated that the said act not only tantamounts to commission of grave criminal offences but also targets and brings disrepute to the female citizenry.

"Resolved further that the Delhi High Court Bar Association shall address a communication to the Commissioner of Police, Delhi and demand an immediate registration of FIR, and efficient, expeditious investigation thereafter, so that all persons found guilty of having committed the dastardly crime are punished in accordance with law," the resolution adds.

Importantly, the Court of Metropolitan Magistrate in Mumbai's Bandra had yesterday remanded Vishal Jha, the 21-year-old engineering student arrested in the Bulli Bai App case, in Mumbai cyber police's custody till January 10, 2022.

The FIR was registered against relevant handles and the developer of Bulli Bai for offences under Sections 153A (promoting enmity on grounds of religion etc), 153B (imputations prejudicial to nationallyntegration), 295A (insulting religious beliefs), 354D (stalking), 509 (word, gesture or act intended to insult the modesty of a woman), 500 (criminal defamation) of the Indian Penal Code and Section 67 (publishing or transmitting obscene material in electronic form) of Information Technology Act.

The case came to the fore after innumerable prominent Muslim women found themselves up for auction on the App hosted by GitHub. Many women found that their doctored images were put up on the App for "auction."

The women included prominent journalists, social activists and lawyers.

According to an NDTV report, the lady was handling three accounts in the Bulli Bai App. Jha opened an account called Khalsa Supremacist, apparently to make it look like this was a Khalistani attack. Then, on December 31, he changed the names of the accounts to make them sound like they allegedly belonged to a particular community.