Second Indian app developer held over ‘Muslim women auction' online
This is the second arrest of an app developer of his kind since Thursday
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Tribune Desk
Publish : 09 Jan 2022, 09:03 PMUpdate : 09 Jan 2022, 09:06 PM
Indian police have arrested an IT graduate named Aumkareshwar Thakur for allegedly developing an app called “Sulli Deals” on which Muslim women were put for “online auction” last year, reports ANI.
This is the second arrest of an app developer of his kind since Thursday, when the alleged creator of another app that shared photos of more than 100 Muslim women saying they were on "sale", was booked.
Thakur was arrested from Madhya Pradesh’s Indore city and is being questioned by the police.
Photos of more than 80 women were reportedly uploaded in in mid-2021 to GitHub, an open software development platform, under the title “Sulli Deals”, according to AFP
GitHub, however, suspended the users' accounts, saying they violated its policies on harassment, discrimination and inciting violence.
Thakur is the first person to be arrested in the case. The 26-year-old is a resident of the New York City Township in Indore and has completed a Bachelor of Computer Applications course from the city’s Indore Professional Studies Academy, according to PTI.
“Sulli” is a derogatory term used to refer to Muslim women. The “Sulli Deals” app was called out on social media after it targeted Muslim women in July. The Delhi Police had filed a first information report on the matter but had made no arrest in the six months since then.
Secrecy about the arrest?
Indore police chief, Harinarayanchari Mishra, told the news agency that the Delhi Police did not shared any official information about the matter with the Indore Police yet. “We have come to know only from the media about the arrest of Thakur from Indore by Delhi Police,” Mishra said.
On Sunday, KPS Malhotra, the deputy commissioner of police of the Intelligence Fusion and Strategic Operations of Delhi Police’s Special Cell, said that Thakur was a member of a group on Twitter that was made with the intention of online trolling of Muslim women, ANI reported.
“He had developed the code on GitHub,” Malhotra said, according to PTI. “The access of GitHub was with all the members of the group. He had shared the app on his Twitter account. The photos of the Muslim women were uploaded by the group members.”
Meanwhile, Thakur’s father Akhilesh Thakur claimed that he did not know anything about the app and that his son was being framed, PTI reported. He said that on Saturday afternoon, two Delhi Police personnel came to his home in plain clothes and took custody of Aumkareshwar Thakur.
Akhilesh Thakur said that the police took his son to Delhi by a flight on Saturday evening. He added that he was in the neighbouring district of Ujjain when the police came to his home.
Many among India's 170 million Muslims say they feel like second-class citizens since Prime Minister Narendra Modi's Hindu nationalist BJP party came to power in 2014.
Online targeting of Muslim women
On January 1, a similar app called “Bulli Bai” – another derogatory term used to target Muslim women – emerged. Four persons, including this app’s alleged creator, have been arrested in the case.
The list of women on the app included several journalists, a Bollywood actor and the 65-year-old mother of a disappeared Indian student.
In both cases, images of hundreds of Muslim women were downloaded and posted on the apps and uploaded on the repository hosting service GitHub. Both the apps have been taken down by the platform after outrage on social media.
A 2018 Amnesty International report on online harassment in India showed that the more vocal a woman was, the more likely she was to be targeted - the scale of this increased for women from religious minorities and disadvantaged castes.
Critics say trolling against Muslim women has worsened in recent years in India's polarised political climate.
Second Indian app developer held over ‘Muslim women auction' online
This is the second arrest of an app developer of his kind since Thursday
Indian police have arrested an IT graduate named Aumkareshwar Thakur for allegedly developing an app called “Sulli Deals” on which Muslim women were put for “online auction” last year, reports ANI.
This is the second arrest of an app developer of his kind since Thursday, when the alleged creator of another app that shared photos of more than 100 Muslim women saying they were on "sale", was booked.
Thakur was arrested from Madhya Pradesh’s Indore city and is being questioned by the police.
Photos of more than 80 women were reportedly uploaded in in mid-2021 to GitHub, an open software development platform, under the title “Sulli Deals”, according to AFP
GitHub, however, suspended the users' accounts, saying they violated its policies on harassment, discrimination and inciting violence.
Thakur is the first person to be arrested in the case. The 26-year-old is a resident of the New York City Township in Indore and has completed a Bachelor of Computer Applications course from the city’s Indore Professional Studies Academy, according to PTI.
“Sulli” is a derogatory term used to refer to Muslim women. The “Sulli Deals” app was called out on social media after it targeted Muslim women in July. The Delhi Police had filed a first information report on the matter but had made no arrest in the six months since then.
Secrecy about the arrest?
Indore police chief, Harinarayanchari Mishra, told the news agency that the Delhi Police did not shared any official information about the matter with the Indore Police yet. “We have come to know only from the media about the arrest of Thakur from Indore by Delhi Police,” Mishra said.
On Sunday, KPS Malhotra, the deputy commissioner of police of the Intelligence Fusion and Strategic Operations of Delhi Police’s Special Cell, said that Thakur was a member of a group on Twitter that was made with the intention of online trolling of Muslim women, ANI reported.
“He had developed the code on GitHub,” Malhotra said, according to PTI. “The access of GitHub was with all the members of the group. He had shared the app on his Twitter account. The photos of the Muslim women were uploaded by the group members.”
Meanwhile, Thakur’s father Akhilesh Thakur claimed that he did not know anything about the app and that his son was being framed, PTI reported. He said that on Saturday afternoon, two Delhi Police personnel came to his home in plain clothes and took custody of Aumkareshwar Thakur.
Akhilesh Thakur said that the police took his son to Delhi by a flight on Saturday evening. He added that he was in the neighbouring district of Ujjain when the police came to his home.
Many among India's 170 million Muslims say they feel like second-class citizens since Prime Minister Narendra Modi's Hindu nationalist BJP party came to power in 2014.
Online targeting of Muslim women
On January 1, a similar app called “Bulli Bai” – another derogatory term used to target Muslim women – emerged. Four persons, including this app’s alleged creator, have been arrested in the case.
The list of women on the app included several journalists, a Bollywood actor and the 65-year-old mother of a disappeared Indian student.
In both cases, images of hundreds of Muslim women were downloaded and posted on the apps and uploaded on the repository hosting service GitHub. Both the apps have been taken down by the platform after outrage on social media.
A 2018 Amnesty International report on online harassment in India showed that the more vocal a woman was, the more likely she was to be targeted - the scale of this increased for women from religious minorities and disadvantaged castes.
Critics say trolling against Muslim women has worsened in recent years in India's polarised political climate.
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