A Metropolitan Court in Mumbai has remanded two accused, Uttarakhand natives Shweta Singh and Mayank Rawat, in Cyber Cell's custody till January 10 in the Bulli Bai App Case, which targeted Muslim women by putting up their images online for 'auction'. The two were detained from Uttarakhand on January 5 and brought to Mumbai on transit remand after which they were produced before the Bandra Metropolitan Court on Friday.
Before the court, while Advocate Akhilesh Gupta, who appeared for the accused, said there was no nexus, the Prosecutor submitted that the police wanted to find out who was the mastermind in the case. The prosecution told the court the police wanted to corroborate the evidence they had collected from the first arrested accused Vishal Kumar Jha, a 21-year-old student from Bangalore. Jha has been in the Cyber Cell's custody since January 4.
Bulli Bai app put out details of more than 100 prominent Muslim women, with their photographs sourced without their permission, and allowed users to participate in an 'auction' of those women. The Mumbai Police's Cyber Cell registered an FIR on January 1 based on complaints by women who had been targeted by the app against relevant Twitter handles and the developer of the app.
Sections of the Indian Penal Code under which the case was registered include 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) and Section 67 (publishing or transmitting obscene material in electronic form) of Information Technology Act.
According to the prosecution on the two accused produced before the court on Friday, 18-year-old Shweta Singh was active on social media posting "extreme content". She is also alleged to have created a fake account on Twitter which was used to post content on Bulli Bai app.
The cyber police arrested 21-year-old Mayank Rawat, a Delhi University student pursuing science graduation, after they tracked his phone which was allegedly used to share the posts. The prosecution submitted that the police wanted to check his possible connections with extremist elements which may be involved in the case.
Meanwhile, a court in Delhi remanded the alleged "main conspirator" and creator of "Bulli Bai" on GitHub, Neeraj Bishnoi, in seven days' of police custody in a separate case registered by the Delhi police.
