Bulli Bai App Case : Accused Arrested From Uttarakhand Seek Bail In Mumbai Court

Two accused – Sweta Singh(18) and Mayank Rawat (21) arrested by the Mumbai Police in the Bulli Bai App case filed bail applications soon after the Bandra magistrate's court remanded them in judicial custody today. Metropolitan Maigistrate Komalsing Rajput remanded them after being informed that Rawat had tested positive for the Covid-19 virus. Earlier, first arrestee Vishal Jha and the investigating officer also tested positive. The bail applications filed by all the three accused have been kept for the prosecution's response on Monday. During today's hearing, Singh's advocate alleged that she was slapped during interrogation. However, the lawyer could not respond to specific questions or give further details about the incident. Nonetheless, the magistrate asked the DCP to inquire into the incident. The accused were remanded to JC even after the police sought their further custody. Advocate Sandep Sherkhane for Rawat claimed that his client was covid-19 postive, he was a young man and a topper in college. He had merely followed a link that was forwarded to him on social media, he said. He further claimed that he has neither created the link nor made the app or posted anything. The FIR is registered against necessary Twitter handles and the developer of Bulli Bai. The accused are booked under Sections 153A (promoting enmity on grounds of religion etc), 153B (imputations prejudicial to national-integration), 295A (insulting religious beliefs), 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. The FIR was registered after it came to light that over 100 politically vocal Muslim women were being targeted and their doctored images placed on the Bulli Bai App for a virtual auction. The US-based GitHub hosted the App. Certain twitter handles also shared the same images. The Mumbai police had said that while the App was created by Neeraj Bishnoi, arrested by IFSO, Delhi, from Assam, these three accused were in constant contact with him. They were operating the twitter profiles, they said.

Bulli Bai App Case : Accused Arrested From Uttarakhand Seek Bail In Mumbai Court

Sharmeen Hakim

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