Bulli Bai App Creator's Bail Plea Dismissed

A Delhi Court has rejected the bail plea of Bulli Bai creator Niraj Bishnoi saying that a vilification campaign against women containing derogatory content and offending material having communal overtones was run on this app made by the accused.

Chief Metropolitan Magistrate Pankaj Sharma said that considering the enormity of the allegation and the stage of the investigation, no ground is made out for a grant of bail at this stage.

The court said, "Bail denied" and added that the investigation of this case is at the initial stage. The police are in process of collecting evidence and identifying the involvement of other persons in this disdainful act.

The court noted the act of the accused is apparently an affront to the dignity of the women of a particular community and the communal harmony of the society.

The court also noted that the facts disclose that the accused created the app "'Bulli Bai" where women journalists and celebrities of a particular community who are famous on social media are targeted and they are projected in a bad light with an objective to insult and humiliate them by objectification.

Niraj Bishnoi (20) was arrested last week by the Delhi Police Special Cell's Intelligence Fusion and Strategic Operations unit (IFSO) team from Assam for alleged involvement in the Bulli Bai case.

Niraj Bishnoi is a resident of the Digambar area of Assam's Jorhat. He is a B.Tech student of the Vellore Institute of Technology, Bhopal.

Delhi Police had said that during interrogation, Neeraj Bishnoi disclosed that the app was developed in November 2021 and updated in December 2021. He also created one more Twitter account to talk about the app.

Several complaints were received by police stations in the country regarding the listing of Muslim women for "auction" on the 'Bulli Bai' mobile application with photographs sourced without permission and doctored.

It has happened for the second time in less than a year. The app appeared to be a clone of 'Sulli Deals' which triggered a similar row last year.

An engineering student from Bengaluru, a young girl from Uttarakhand, and one of her friends have also been arrested by Mumbai Police in connection with the 'Bulli Bai' app case.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)