Police in India have arrested a man suspected of creating an app that put up photos of more than 80 Muslim women for “sale” online last year.
The open source app – Sulli Deals – had been hosted on web platform GitHub in July 2021.
The 25-year-old was arrested days after a similar app – Bulli Bai – uploaded photos of more than 100 Muslim women, BBC writes.
Four students, including a 21-year-old student who allegedly created the second app, were arrested.
In both cases, there was no actual sale, but the purpose was to degrade and humiliate Muslim women, many of whom have been outspoken about the rising tide of Hindu nationalism under Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
“Sulli” is a derogatory Hindi slang term right-wing Hindu trolls use for Muslim women, and “bulli” is also pejorative.
After the Bulli Bai app generated outrage online, one of the women who had filed a police complaint in July alleged that police in the capital Delhi had not taken any action yet.
On Sunday, police arrested Aumkareshwar Thakur from Indore city in the central state of Madhya Pradesh where his devices are being analysed.
The Sulli Deals app had taken publicly available pictures of women and created profiles, describing the women as “deals of the day”.
Those featured on the app were all vocal Muslims, including journalists, activists, artists or researchers.
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