States Responsible To Detect & Prevent Crimes: Home Ministry On Sulli Deals & Bulli Bai App Case

In response to questions regarding apps like 'Bulli Bai' and 'Sulli Deals' that harass and defame Muslim women, the Ministry of Home Affairs has said that maintaining law and order is the responsibility of the respective State governments.

When asked if such apps have come to the notice of the Government and the action taken in this regard, Union Minister Ajay Kumar Mishra in a written response said,

"Police" and "Public Order" are State subjects as per the Seventh Schedule of the Constitution of India. The States/UTs are primarily responsible for the prevention, detection, investigation and prosecution of crimes through their Law Enforcement Agencies (LEAs).

The Minister added that the Delhi Police and Mumbai Police have registered FIRs in the matter and several arrests have been made.

"After investigation into the case, the Delhi Police has arrested the accused, Aumkareshwar Thakur, in the "Sulli Deals" case. Chargesheet has been filed in the Court on 04.03.2022. In the „Bulli Bai‟ incident, the Delhi Police has arrested the main accused, Niraj Bishnoi. In addition to this, four other accused were also arrested by the Mumbai Police from Karnataka, Uttarakhand and Odisha...Currently, all the accused arrested are in judicial custody in Delhi and Mumbai."

The Minister was responding to the queries raised by MP Asaduddin Owaisi and Kunwar Danish Ali.

They sought to know whether UN officials have slammed the Indian Government for harassment of Muslim women in the country and if so, the remedial steps taken or being taken by the Government in this regard.

The government responded that it is not aware of any such formal statement from any of the UN officials. 

The development comes a day after key accused in Sulli Deals, Aumkareshwar Thakur, was granted bail by a court in Delhi. "Accused is a first time offender and a young person as such prolonged incarceration would be detrimental to his overall well being," the Court had said.

Through the Sulli Deals app on GitHub, the accused persons posted pictures of various Muslim women for online auction. 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.

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."

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