Muslim women targetted online: Cops start probe
New Delhi: The Delhi Police Cyber Cell has now initiated a probe in the incident involving uploading of pictures of many Muslim girls on an online platform called "GitHub' by an unidentified group going by the name of "Sulli Deals" where the girls were shown as "deal of the day" for users, all the while using derogatory and demeaning remarks against them, a senior police officer has confirmed.
This comes after the Delhi Commission for Women (DCW) on Tuesday took suo motu cognisance of media reports of the pictures of several Muslim girls being uploaded on the said platform without their consent. In the notice issued by DCW Chief Swati Maliwal, while taking cognisance of the crime, it was stated: "As per media reports, the app came to light when people started sharing their pictures with the term "Sulli deal of the day" on Twitter".
It added that subsequently many women had to leave social media platforms after their images got circulated. "This is a very serious matter and constitutes cybercrime," the notice further stated.
Addressed to DCP (CyPAD) Anyesh Roy, the notice asked the police to provide a copy of the FIR registered in the matter, details of the accused identified and arrested in the matter, steps taken to identify and arrest the accused; in case of non-arrest and detailed action taken report in the matter.
Confirming receiving the notice, a senior police officer told Millennium Post, that the Cyber Cell has received the letter and a probe has been accordingly initiated.Meanwhile, an FIR pertaining to the incident has also been filed at Commissionerate GB Nagar by one of the victims, Hana Mohsin Khan, which stated that she got to know from Twitter on July 4 that her photos have been uploaded on the said website without her consent and they were being "auctioned off" to customers. The screenshot of the website was further uploaded on Twitter where she was subsequently harassed and threatened by users, she said.
With at least one of the known victims of this predatory website being a journalist, the Editors Guild of India also issued a statement calling for police action and condemning in strong words the actions of the perpetrators. However, this came two days after several journalists, women and other victims implored the Guild to take cognizance of the crime,
The Guild has termed the said auctioning of Muslim women, including women journalists and other professionals from the minority community, on social media in a denigrating manner as "reprehensible".
"The vile attack is symptomatic of underlying misogyny in some sections of the society, especially against Muslim women as well as those who have been outspoken critics of the current government," the statement read, while calling upon law enforcement agencies as well as DCW to take up this issue with utmost urgency.
