Bulli Bai App Row: Mumbai police detains woman from Uttarakhand, engineering student held in Bengaluru
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Mumbai: A woman, who is allegedly the mastermind behind the notorious "Bulli Bai" app, was held by a Mumbai Police team from Uttarakhand. A crime branch team is in Uttarakhand and the woman's questioning is on, reports PTI quoting police sources.
According to the report, the accused will be produced before a court in Uttarakhand for transit remand and will then be brought to Mumbai.
Earlier, the cyber police had arrested a 21-year-old engineering student, identified as Vishal Kumar, from Bengaluru in connection with the case. Both the persons are known to each other, the official said, adding that further probe into the case is underway.
Giving information, the police said that on Monday, Maharashtra's Minister of State for Home Satej Patil had directed them to take action against the developers of the "Bully Bai" app, after which this is the first major action in this case.
According to the information both the woman and the engineering student, who was one of the followers of the controversial app, will be confronted with each other.
The latest controversy came six months after the "Sulli Deals" issue. Both names are derogatory terms for women of a particular religion. While the hosting platform, GitHub, has blocked the site, police claim that the engineering student is one of the main accused in this case.
The app was also being promoted by a Twitter handle with the name @bullibai, with the display picture was of a Khalistani supporter.
This Twitter handle was endorsing the Bulli Bai app saying the women can be booked from the app. This handle was also promoting Khalistani content at the same time.
The incident came to light after a woman tweeted on receiving her photo that had been uploaded on the social platform with the #BulliBai for auction. Mumbai Police had also filed a first information report (FIR) against unknown persons based on complaints that doctored photographs of women were uploaded for auction on the application.
A case in this connection was lodged by Delhi Police too.
On Sunday, West Mumbai Cyber Police station registered a case against the app developers and Twitter handles that promoted the app.
The case has been registered against the unknown culprits under sections 153(A) (promoting enmity between different groups on grounds of religion etc), 153(B) (imputations, assertions prejudicial to national integration), 295(A) (deliberate and malicious acts, intended to outrage religious feelings), 354D (stalking), 509 (word, gesture or act intended to insult the modesty of a woman), 500 (criminal defamation) of the Indian Penal Code and Section 67 (publishing or transmitting obscene material in electronic form) of Information Technology Act.
After both the Delhi and Mumbai police lodged FIR in the matter under relevant sections, Union Minister for Electronics and Information Technology Ashwini Vaishnav said in a tweet on Sunday, "Government of India is working with police organizations in Delhi and Mumbai on this matter."