A Delhi court has refused anticipatory bail to Vishal Jha, an accused in the Bully Bai App case, saying the conduct of the accused in the case is “against the ever cherished constitutional ethos of secularism and fraternity, which cannot be denied to any individual and ensures the dignity and modesty of the woman.”
Additional Sessions Judge Dharmendra Rana has refused Jha’s appeal for anticipatory bail. and he pointed out that “The accused (Neeraj Bishnoi) along with the applicant and other CO accused persons have created this Bully Bai App which is a reprehensible app. The conduct of the accused in this case is against secularism and the constitutional ethos that ensure the dignity of any woman.”
“In the used case, the statements against the applicant are serious as it directly attacks the dignity and humility of a woman belonging to a particular kind of community.”
The accused was arrested by the police on January 4. A case has been registered against him under Sections 154(a), 153(b), 295(a), 509, 500, and 354(d) of the IPC and section 67 of the Information Technology Act.
Originally from Patna in Bihar state, Jha says he has been falsely involved and can only be charged with following the Bulli Bai app.
The first report against Jha was filed by the Mumbai Police. Jha first appealed for requisite bail in the Metropolitan Magistrate’s court, where the bail application was rejected, then Jha appealed for bail in a Sessions Court in Delhi.
Bulli Bai app is very similar to an old app Sully Deal which caused controversy last year by offering Sulis. A derogatory term used for Muslim women. The host of that app was GitHub.
The FIR enrolled against relevant handles and the creator of Bulli Bai offenses under Sections –
- 153A (promoting enmity grounds of religion etc.)
- 153B (imputations prejudicial to the 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
- Section 67 (publishing or transmitting obscene material in electronic form) of the Information Technology Act
The matter came to light when innumerable prominent Muslim women found themselves up for auction on the Github-hosted app and their morphed images were also put up for auction.
These women mainly included journalists, social workers, and lawyers.
If a report by NDTV is to be believed, three accounts of women were open in the Bulli Bai app. Jha opened an account under the name Khalsa Supremacist from which it can be seen that this was a type of Khalistani attack then on December 31. They cleverly changed the names of the accounts to make them appear as if they allegedly belonged to a particular community.
