Bulli Bai App Case: 3 Including 18 Years-Old Girl Arrested

Accused Shweta Singh controlled 'Bulli Bai'

Mumbai: Ahead of the Bulli Bai investigation, two students and an 18-year-old girl has been arrested. The "Bulli Bai" app shared pictures of Muslim women for an "auction". A 21-year-old from Uttarakhand is the latest to be arrested by the Mumbai police.

According to the police officials, Mayank Rawal, a student, was caught in the early hours of Wednesday. Earlier, an engineering student from Bengaluru, Vishal Kumar Jha, was arrested.

Police say the brain behind the egregious app is teenager Shweta Singh, also from Uttarakhand.

Shweta Singh controlled 'Bulli Bai' and three more apps; investigations reveal. Her father reportedly died of Covid. She is believed to be from a poor family.

As per the Uttarkhand police chief, Ashok Kumar said, "The woman who was arrested from Uttarakhand's Rudrapur in the 'Bulli Bai' app case belongs to a poor family and her father is not alive. It seems she got involved in such activities for money."

A First Information Report (FIR) was first registered following complaints that doctored photographs of hundreds of Muslim women were uploaded for an 'auction' on an app hosted on the open-source software platform GitHub.

The app was called 'Bulli Bai', a derogatory term to describe Muslim women. A similar app and website called 'Sulli Deals' had surfaced earlier this year and had sparked massive outrage.

Ismat Ara, a journalist targeted by the Bulli Bai app, said in her police complaint on Sunday that it was an attempt to harass Muslim women.

According to the complaint, "The said 'GitHub' is violent, threatening and intending to create a feeling of fear and shame in my mind, as well as in the minds of women in general, and the Muslim community whose women are targeting in this hateful manner."

There was no actual 'auction' or 'sale' but the purpose of the app seemed to be to humiliate and intimidate women, many of them active on social media.