Bulli Bai App: Will there be an end to this hate industry?

–Kakali Das

Apple’s market cap is now a $3 trillion economy, a first in corporate history. In India, 30 Start-ups have $1 billion valuations in 2021, most in the world. But, there is a different side to the Start-up India story, the second version is a trillion-dollar Start-up. Experiments were on for many years in this start-up, but in 2022, it seems that the product is ready for market launch. This is a very profitable business as the input costs are little, in fact it is automatic, much like machine learning. Already this product has millions of fans. It’s none other than the newly developing industry – the hate industry, that will compete against this tech industry and all others. As a matter of fact, the entire world is having a discourse on it.

So, let me introduce, the Jeff Bezos, the Elon Musk of India (pun intended), who is the co-founders of this budding business – a 21-year old Mayank Rawal, a 21-year old Vishal K. Jha, and alleged CEO 18-year-old Shweta Singh. These are the creators of the infamous “Bulli Bai app” for fake ‘auction’ of Muslim women in India, with naked pictures of them on the internet. Among the victims were teenage girls, and old women too.

Have you heard or read about Sulli deals? In July 2021, a list featuring Muslim women was offered for sale in auction on an app. They were up for sale, their pictures were morphed in the most hideous way, cross comments written about them. The girls registered an FIR against the app creators, but what came out of it? Nothing. Rather, another list of over 100 Muslim women was published on 1^st Jan 2022 – the Bulli Bai list. Yet another attempt to auction women on the app. But why did this happen again? Because the criminals got away without punishment before.

Do we understand the meaning of Sulli? It is a derogatory slang used for Muslim girls and women by right-wingers. I came across this disparaging word like 4-5 years ago. I didn’t know it myself. Today, it’s a real thing of shame.

The news is that Shweta Singh’s mother succumbed to cancer years ago, and last year she lost her father too to Covid-19. Yet, she did not question the government, nor vent out her frustration and anger on the system. Instead, she started the auction app for Muslim women. Considering the financial situation, cops say that she did it for money. And, I hope other 18-yr olds don’t take her as an inspiration. For argument’s sake, let’s assume that she did it for money.

According to India Today, Shweta was using a fake Twitter handle named JattKhalsa07. She took instructions from a Nepali friend. Who is this Nepal national, and what was his motive for running the hideous app, and whose plan was this?

Strategic affairs expert, Brahman Chellaney has mentioned China’s strategy: China believes in hybrid warfare – “Three Warfares” doctrine. The Three Warfares are psychological warfare, info warfare and law warfare. So, is this an outsider’s doing to divide us? Or could it be an inside job?

If the police are to be believed that Shweta did this for money, then she might not be linked to Mayank Rawal and Vishal Jha, and the mastermind is someone else. What’s interesting is that Mumbai Police was able to track the perpetrators through the IP address; they were cocky having not used the VPN service. Maybe, they had been seeing news anchors do it for years, polluting the drawing rooms unafraid and unscathed, and they made 1000s of crores doing so!

Remember, two years ago Komal Sharma of ABVP allegedly wreaked havoc in the campus of JNU; “allegedly” because Delhi police have been unable to locate her until now. Here, we have to double-check line by line before speaking or writing, out of the fear of UAPA or handcuffs. She has evaded the police for 22 months. A conference in Haridwar, not long ago, led to a major outrage across length and breadth but no arrest yet. Why fear when there is support from the ones sitting on top, isn’t it?

Isn’t it evident how safe managing is of this trillion-dollar business in the country? The market demands it because in every other department the system is clueless. Be it in GDP, hunger index, malnutrition, unemployment and many more, in every sector, the government is deliberately ignorant.

A distraction by the government, if not now then when? Pakistan is an old excuse, they must go back as far as Aurangzeb, isn’t it? Nevertheless, this business seems full-proof (read fool-proof). As fools are the beta testers of this fool-proof business! It backfired this time, as they assumed Muslim women will have no support, and liberals only know how to outrage anyway!

However, in this Bulli Bai list, the women named strongly rebelled. They demanded immediate action. Thankfully, politicians like Priyanka Chaturvedi helped. In a few hours, Mumbai Police sprang into action. Three have been arrested so far.

Moreover, some aspects changed – some bhakts realized, that this was no longer a liberal or conservative issue; this has put humanity at stake. The names of Yati and nine others in the FIR, arrest of Kalicharan by Chhattisgarh police for remarks against Mahatma Gandhi, and now these Bulli Bai arrests – all in a sequence, one after another.

Yet, there are still people who are being brainlessly defensive like BJP’s Priti Gandhi, who wrote in a tweet: “If an 18yr old girl who recently lost both her parents has indulged in an immoral activity then she should be counselled & reformed. She is not a terrorist…” But when these same 18year olds ask questions to the government and protest, then they would be immediately detained with UAPA for a year. Height of hypocrisy! Considering her age, Javed Akhtar tweeted: “Show her compassion and forgive her.” Though when Kangana Ranaut spoke, she got a defamation case. Here, the naked pictures of women are being auctioned, and he is asking for forgiveness! What else can we expect from these pseudo-liberal hypocrite opportunists anyway? Also, one of the perpetrators in Nirbhaya case was a 17-yr-old. So, kindly play the 18-yr-old drums in your dreams!

This is at least one of those cases where arrests have been made. It’s not that these arrested criminals won’t be released. Meanwhile, lawyers are being all ready to defend perpetrators behind this Bulli Bai app. The Bengaluru college, where Vishal Jha (who allegedly morphed images on women) is a student, has already signalled that they won’t be taking any action against him, saying “his career would be ruined”. The careers of those young girls and women with morphed naked photos circulating on the internet are hardly of their interest anyway.

In fact, what more can we expect from these colleges, when the media and the government are being quiet spectators? Not a single woman minister of central government reacted. Anchors who shout at night are silent too. Silence at the news of the attempted auction of 100 women! Bravo!

Who are those Muslim women in the Bulli Bai list to this government? Perhaps, merely names from one point of view because they are only Muslim women. But, they aren’t mere names, but are independent voices; they are questions that poke the society over and over again. They are people who have battled for what is right; those who have spoken up for the oppressed. Those that dare to tell right from wrong.

Those with this monstrous mindset wish to rule by stamping on voices that are free. This they want desperately, and for that they have nothing better planned except to malign the Muslim women publicly. They forget that a woman’s dignity is in her words, thoughts and her passion.

Admittedly, I meet a lot more people who criticize such acts privately, but when I ask them why they don’t speak openly they shrug it off. They don’t want to get into trouble of any kind. But a wildfire does not come knocking on its enemy doors. It just spreads all across in equal ways.

This isn’t about BJP or Congress; this is about basic human decency. Will we let these Talibani strategies prevail in our country? Can this ever be taken away? Why are such acts not openly, strongly condemned by all? How can it be that someone threatens me to my face, and is not arrested? Is that justified? Women are being auctioned, minorities are being butchered, people are being strangled. The choice is yours. It’s not about the party person, but humanity. I fear that we may be moving towards a culture of hooliganism. I’m afraid the voices meant to protect the women will remain quiet.

Note: This I want to convey to the family and friends of those women listed: The girls need you more than ever. Don’t advise them against using social media. It’s not fair to shut them up, to have them locked in solitude, to snatch their freedom. Cheer her instead. Her name is on the list for she succeeded in making a mark. For she has within herself the power to make a substantial change in society. She isn’t to blame for the doings of the criminal or for a silently spectating system of law. Lend her your support because she needs it the most.