Hiba Bég, a graduate student in the United States, was visiting the grave of her grandmother in New Delhi over the weekend when she learned that she was “for sale” to the highest bidder online — for a second time in less than a year.
Her screen filled with dozens of calls and messages from friends, all sharing the same screenshot of the profile created of her on the app, a fake auction site called “Bulli Bai.” Ms. Bég, a former journalist with an active online presence, wasn’t alone. More than 100 other prominent Indian Muslim women including journalists, lawyers, activists, and artists discovered that online photos of them were being used without their permission. The app was posted on Saturday and was removed again within 24 hours.
In June a similar app, called “Sulli Deals,” appeared. Both terms are derogatory slang to Muslim women. The original one remained up for several weeks and was only taken down after victims complained. Despite the opening of an investigation by police, no charges have been filed in this case.
India’s online space is rife with misogyny and harassment of women. But the two “auctions” have amplified concern about the organized nature of the virtual bullying, and how targeted smears and threats of violence, particularly sexual violence, are deployed to try to silence women, especially those critical of some of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s policies.
“The intimidation is aimed at forcing Muslim women who raise their voices against the injustice to withdraw from public life,” said Ms. Bég, 26, who is pursuing a graduate degree at Columbia University. “But you don’t back off, even if everything gets overwhelming.”
Muslim women were at the forefront of one of India’s largest protest movements in recent decades. In early 2020, long before the coronavirus epidemic in India started in earnest, thousands blocked roads and held demonstrations to protest a new citizenship policy that was discriminatory against Muslims.
Women featured in the “auction” included Fatima Nafees, the mother of a student activist who disappeared more than five years ago after a fight with members of a right-wing student organization; a film star turned social activist, a researcher, and several other prominent Muslim women.
Both the June app and the most recent version were hosted by GitHub. GitHub is a Microsoft-owned open source software development site based out of San Francisco. On Sunday, India’s federal minister for communications, Ashwini Vaishnaw, said that GitHub had blockedThe app’s creator. GitHub has not commented publicly about the episode.
Karti Chidambaram, a member of India’s Parliament and a leader of the opposition Congress party, wrote on Twitter that he was appalled that those responsible apparently felt emboldened because of the government’s lack of action on the previous auction.
“It is unacceptable that this project of dangerous anti-Muslim misogyny is back,” he said.
The police in Andhra Pradesh’s southern state said Monday that they had opened an inquiry and filed a criminal complaint against several Twitter accounts and developers of the app. It was based upon a complaint by a Muslim women.
Many complaints claimed that the lack of progress in previous investigations had stifled confidence.
For years, Ms. Bég, has been a vocal critic of India’s governing Hindu nationalists and their anti-minority policies under Mr. Modi. She has been the subject of intense internet trolling and even death threats via Twitter.
As the pressure has increased, she stated that she started self-censoring to avoid critical posts on the policies and practices of Hindu nationalists.
She said that she was worried about the increasing intolerance. But the latest episode revealed how the online machinery was being utilized to make vocal Muslim women withdraw form public life, effectively eliminating any counternarrative.
Hasiba Amin is a social media coordinator from the opposition Congress party. She was also featured on the auction platform.
“What guarantees do we have from the government that tomorrow the threats and intimation online is not going to turn into the real-time sexual violence on the streets?” she asked.
Source: NY Times
