Bulli Bai Case: Two Days After FIR, Mumbai Police Detain 21-Yr-Old Bengaluru Man

Sources told The Quint that the man was detained in Bengaluru, and would be produced before a court on 4 January.

Photos of hundreds of Muslim women were uploaded by an unidentified group on an app named 'Bulli Bai' using GitHub.

(Photo: The Quint)

The Mumbai Police on Monday, 3 January, detained a 21-year-old Bengaluru man in connection with the 'Bulli Bai' case – a GitHub app in which photos of hundreds of Muslim women were misused.

Sources told The Quint that the man was detained from Bengaluru, and would be produced before a court on 4 January.

On 1 January, the Mumbai Cyber Police registered an FIR against unknown persons and Twitter handles that promoted the 'Bulli Bai' application.

The case was registered under Sections 354-D (stalking of women), 500 (punishment for defamation), and other Sections of the Information Technology Act.

The case is being investigated by DCP Rashmi Karandikar.

"We have summoned Twitter & GitHub for details about the domain location. However, Maharashtra has urged the Centre to invoke the Multilateral Legal Assistance Treaty (MLAT) – under which GitHub can share the IP address. The Centre needs to be more sensitive to such cases," Satej Patil, Minister of State (Home & IT) told The Quint.

Patil later took to social media and said:

"Mumbai Police 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 & they will face the law very soon," he tweeted.

Operation Solely Carried Out by Mumbai Cyber Police

Speaking to The News Minute, Patil added that the operation was carried out solely by the Mumbai Cyber police, who have identified a gang of people who worked together on the ‘Bulli Bai’ app.

Apart from the 21-year-old student from Bengaluru, others have been detained from other parts of India, the minister said.

He also said that the police have enough proof to believe that those involved were enlisted by another person to target these women, and went on to call it a gang operation.

“We will look into whether they belong to any organisation, party etc,” he said, noting however that the cops are certain about the involvement of those whom they have identified and detained so far.

However, he said that arrests would happen by 4 January evening or 5 January, only after the police have been able to get more details and collate enough evidence, reported The News Minute.

What Has the Delhi Police Done?

The Cyber Police (South East Delhi) has also registered an FIR under Sections 354A (sexual harassment), 509 (word, gesture, or act intended to insult the modesty of a woman), 153A (promoting enmity on grounds of religion), and 153B (imputations prejudicial to national integration).

The Quint had reached out to Delhi Police on the status of the investigation, but has received no response as of yet.

This also comes six months after no arrest was made in connection with the two FIRs filed by the Delhi and Uttar Pradesh Police in the 'Sulli Deals' controversy – another app in which photos of Muslim women were misused and auctioned. Not a single arrest has been made in the case yet.