IT minister, NCW promise action against app ‘auctioning’ Muslim women

TIL Desk/National/New Delhi/ As outrage mounted over a dodgy app that has posted pictures of Muslim women, including many prominent personalities, ‘for auction’, IT minister Ashwini Vaishnaw said on Sunday that the government is working with police in Delhi and Mumbai in the matter and the National Commission for Women too stepped in.

The NCW has written to the Delhi Police to expedite its action in the case against the ‘Bulli Bai’ app, floated for trolling and harassing the victims, to ensure that such crimes do not recur. Hundreds of Muslim women were listed for ‘auction’ on the app with photographs sourced without permission and doctored. It has happened for the second time in less than a year.

The app appeared to be a clone of Sulli Deals which triggered a similar row last year. Politicians, netizens and women’s rights groups demanded strict action against the makers of the app and many blamed it on right-wing elements. As the issue snowballed, IT Minister Vaishnaw tweeted on Sunday, ‘(The) Government of India is working with police organisations in Delhi and Mumbai on this matter.’ Police of both the metropolitan cities have registered cases in the matter.