Stand Against “Bullying” Muslim Women and “Sullying” the Social Fabric
Image Source: Pixabay
By Swati Garg, HfHR Board Member
In July 2021, an app called Sulli Deals was hosted on Github. This app created fake profiles of over 80 Indian Muslim women and girls, listing them as up for auction. News of this app sparked outrage on social media. Although a police investigation was started, nobody was charged, and the issue seemed to die down in public discourse. However, the women whose photos were included had to live with the trauma, and have to constantly think before posting any pictures on social media.
Undoubtedly, the silence of India’s Prime Minister, coupled with inaction by law enforcement, emboldened those who created Sulli Deals – and those who were inspired by them. And as the world welcomed the new year on a note of hope, Muslim women in India were once again reminded of the dangerous society they live in.
On January 1st, 2022, another app called Bulli Bai appeared on Github, that featured pictures of over 100 Muslim women and girls, many of them journalists and activists. Both “bulli” and “sulli” are slurs for Muslim women in Hindi slang. Women from all walks of life were humiliated, the only thing they had in common was their Muslim identity. Rana Ayyub, a prominent journalist who has previously faced online sexual harrassment, was yet again targeted with this app. Fatima Nafees, a distraught mother who is still searching for her son Najeeb Ahmad, still missing after being assaulted by Hindu extremists in Delhi five years ago, was listed. So was Asifa, an 8 year-old girl who was raped and murdered in a Hindu temple in Kashmir.
One of our very close friends, Amina Kausar, an Indian-American Muslim entrepreneur and activist, was listed on this abominable app. Amina gave us permission to name her in our statement. She told us: “This can not silence me, It is for the betterment of the community to keep speaking up. We need the international community to know the atrocities being committed to Indian Muslim in general and Muslim women in particular.”
We are inspired by Amina’s courage and the courage of other women who refuse to be terrified into silence. Here is Rana Ayyub’s powerful statement in the wake of this incident. Here is a video statement by radio jockey Sayema Rahman; and an Al Jazeera story that features Sayema Rahman and journalist Fatima Khan.
What makes it to the internet stays there forever. It is this fear and stigma that right-wing extremists are trying to spread by “auctioning” our Muslim sisters.
We are appalled by the actions of the perpetrators. We are equally appalled by the many Indians who downloaded this app, “liked” the pictures, and commented with more obscene images. The seem to be sending a message to Indian Muslims, and particularly Muslim women: keep your head down and suffer in silence.
This app is a violation of the Constitution of India, which guarantees equal dignity and rights to all people. We at Hindus for Human Rights stand in solidarity with our Muslim sisters, and we invite you to join us in our stand against the venom of anti-Muslim hate that is rising in India and the Indian diaspora.
Two 20 year-old men and an 18 year-old woman have been arrested as the alleged masterminds behind this abhorrent act. Reading this, I am reminded of a song from my schooldays, Sare Jahan Se Accha by Muhammad Iqbal, which includes the lines:
Mazhab nahi sikhata, aapas mein bair rakhna,
Hindi hain hum watan hai, Hindustan humara, humara
Religion does not teach us to fight amongst ourselves,
We are all Indians, India is ours, ours.
