India: Journalist Ismat Ara Files Complaint Against Those Behind Online “Auction” Of Muslim Women, CFWIJ Extends Solidarity
Location: India, New Delhi
Date: January 3, 2022
The Wire journalist Ismat Ara, filed a complaint with the Cyber Cell of the Delhi Police behind those running the social media application “Bulli Bai”, a platform where Hindu men “bid” on Muslim women as a means to sexually harass them. This is the second such platform to emerge in the country. In July 2021, a similar application by the name of “Sulli Deals” had come to light. Both the applications have been taken out since then. “Bulli Bai” consisted of profiles of at least 90 different women who were “on sale”.
The profiles of Muslim women inluded veteran Bollywood actress Shabana Azmi, Nobel Laureate Malala Yousufzai, wife of a sitting High Court judge and several Muslim women journalists and activists. “Sulli” and “Bulli” are local slurs used to refer to Muslim women and these repeated attempts to sexualize and threaten them appear to come from the rampant Islamophobia in the country under the right-wing BJP government.
Journalist Ismat Ara has filed a complaint against “unknown persons” who are behind the app.
“It is sad to see how these hate-mongers are licensed to target Muslim women without any fear. This is not the first time such an auction has taken place,” she said while speaking to an international publication.“The women who have been targeted are vocal women who raise issues of Muslims on social media. It is a clear conspiracy to shut these Muslim women because we challenge the Hindu right-wing online against their hate crimes,” she added.
UPDATE: An FIR has been registered by Cyber Police (South East Delhi) on the basis of my complaint with IPC sections 153A (Promoting enmity on grounds of religion etc), 153B (Imputations prejudicial to national-integration), 354A & 509 for sexual harassment. #BulliDeals pic.twitter.com/dJ1mspyiGI
— Ismat Ara (@IsmatAraa) January 2, 2022
Despite their efforts Muslim women journalists, lawyers and activists are not very hopeful of support. Similar complaints were filed against those running a similar application back in July, however little was done to bring them to account.
However, on Thursday, January 6, the police arrested Niraj Bishnoi, a 20-year-old engineering student, from Jorhat in the northeastern state of Assam, for being the creator of the application.
“He is the person who had created the Bulli Bai app on Github. He had also created the Twitter handle @bullibai_ and other handles,” K P S Malhotra, a police official in Delhi said. An investigation against Bishnoi is underway.
The Coalition For Women In Journalism is appalled at the incident and demands those responsible be immediately be brought to account. This is blatant misogyny combined with deep seated Islamophobia. It reprehensibly targets one of the most politically vulnerable groups in India. The connection of such behaviour to the current of the rhetoric of the Indian state cannot be ignored. It is now obvious that those behind these applications act with a sense of impunity given the lack of action by the police and it is equally true that recently the Indian state has allowed right wing extremists to act with complete impunity in the region putting the safety of religious and other minorities at considerable risk. As equal citizens of the state, Muslim women have a right to dignity and security and the state must ensure these rights if it wishes to retain its claim on the democratic principles.
The CFWIJ strongly condemns the police brutality against journalists. We demand the immediate return of the press cards seized from the security forces. Policies to intimidate journalists should be abandoned, and journalism should be practiced under the criteria of freedom of the press.
If you have been harassed or abused in any way, and please report the incident by using the following form.