Twitter has reportedly denied revealing details of the two handles that are allegedly connected to the “Bulli Bai” case, where doctored photographs of over 100 Indian Muslim women were put up on display on GitHub for an “auction”.
While there is no real auction, the doctoring of the women’s photos bears testimony to the fact that the content itself was deeply Islamophobic and misogynist in nature.
Twitter allegedly turned down the request, stating that the matter was not of national security and that the Delhi police should approach it through the proper channel instead, reported the New Indian Express.
The police had written to the software development platform GitHub for details of the website developer and sought details of the accounts they belive first tweeted about the application, from Twitter.
The accounts were deactivated after the victims began sharing their ordeals online. “Sensing the gravity of the case, we asked Twitter to provide details of their IP addresses on an urgent basis, but they responded on Tuesday, asking us to come through proper channels since it’s not a national security threat matter,” a senior police officer privy to the investigation said.
The website was developed using GitHub, on December 31, where doctored images of at least 100 Muslim women alongside derogatory remarks were posted. The content was removed from the platform after the matter came to light, but, Twitter users tagged the women sharing screenshots of the same.
On January 2, southeast Delhi police lodged a First Information Report against unknown persons and the case was transferred to its Intelligence Fusion and Strategic Operations, on January 4.
The police have decided to go for a Mutual Legal Assistance Treaty to seek information about the application from its foreign-based hosting platform.
A high-level committee is to be formed by the Indian Computer Emergency Response System (Cert-In), the nodal agency for monitoring cyber security incidents and related threats, to probe the incident.
The Delhi police filed a complaint under sections 153A (promoting enmity between different groups on the ground of religion and doing acts prejudicial to maintenance of harmony), 153B (imputations, assertions prejudicial to national integration), 354A (sexual harassment), and 509 (word, gesture or act intended to insult the modesty of a woman), based on the complaint of a Delhi-based journalist who is a victim of “Bulli Bai” and its first episode, “Sulli Deals” in July 2021.
A case was registered with the Mumbai police as well, and three people have been arrested by them. The Delhi police nabbed another accused on Thursday morning.
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