Sulli Meaning: Complaints about the hundreds of Muslim women being listed for “auction” in a questionable application that uses photos sourced without permission have caused an outrage this time for the 2nd time in just one year.
In Delhi stated that they were looking into the case of reporter Ismat Ara while Priyanka Chaturvedi an MP from Maharashtra’s ruling Shiv Sena, said a investigation was also underway in Mumbai.
Sulli Meaning: What is the meaning of Sulli?
“Sulli” is a sexist term that is used by right-wing media trolls against Muslim women – referring to them as “deals for the moment“.
What is Sulli deals?
The first morning of this year many Muslim women awoke to see a shocking image on social media sites – their photos were splashed over a site that was illegal and intended to “auction” the photos to bidders on the internet.
A few days after the “Bulli Bai” controversy surrounding the internet “auctioning” of well-known Muslim women from India emerged and The Delhi Commission for Women on Monday took a suo-moto look at the issue and requested an explanation from police officers. In addition, the Delhi Police has registered an FIR against unknown individuals who allegedly uploaded a fake photo of the journalist on a site.
Bulli Bai is an app which was launched 1 January 2022, on Github which is a platform to develop and host software with Git. More than 100 Muslim women, including notable voices from journalism, civil society, and more found their photos along with their profiles, on the platform that invited bids on auctions of the women.
According to the victims the profiles, that contained photos and other personal information that were provided by the victim, had been made and circulated without the permission of women.
On July 21, 2020 an app with the name “Sulli Deals” was launched, placing a number of Muslim women on “auction” for online bidding. The word “sulli” is an insulting word that is that is used to describe Muslim women. The app was shut down in response to outrage expressed by prominent Muslim women who used the app, along with others from civil society. But no legal action had been initiated against the developers of the application. Many of the people who got on this Bulli Bai app were repeat victims, and they have stated in social media platforms that the lack of action by the authorities might have enthused the criminals. It is believed that the Delhi Police had registered an FIR in July of last year, following the DCW’s intervention. But, no arrests have yet been taken.
Dissension over sexism and communalism
“The Bulli Bai controversy led to anger from a variety of groups of society, including politicians across political parties. Congress officials like Congress’ Shashi Tharoor denounced the “selling” of individuals online and the former Congress Vice-President Rahul Gandhi branded the incident to be an “insult against women”.
