India was rocked this week by a horrific Islamophobic campaign on the internet. The Bulli Bai application presented the photos, sometimes edited and degrading, of a hundred Muslim women and offered to sell them at auction. No transaction took place before it was taken off the internet.
The main objective was to humiliate well-known Muslim women. The profiles included activists, lawyers, an airline pilot as well as many journalists.
“We were targeted because we are women, we are Muslims, we have a free and independent spirit, and we are successful in life.”
Sayema Rahman, journalistto franceinfo
“We speak for the oppressed, try to fight injustices, and this is an organized campaign to silence us”, denounces Sayema Rahman, one of the targeted journalists.
It was not the first action of its kind. As of July, almost the same system has been used against 80 women, using another app called Sulli Deals. Complaints had been filed, but its inventors were not identified and no one had been arrested at the time. This while at the same time, a user had been arrested a few days after having simply insulted the daughter of a famous cricketer. This had shown how little Islamophobia was fought or even tolerated by the police and the authorities, which are led by Hindu nationalists. And this impunity would have encouraged these criminals to reoffend, or others to follow in their footsteps.
This time, in the state of Maharashtra, where Bombay is located, a federal opposition deputy urged the police to take up the case and act on the many complaints filed since January 1. And in a few days, four people were arrested: they are Hindus, aged between 18 and 21, some engineering students. And one of the people suspected of having participated in this misogynistic campaign is a woman.
While waiting for the trial, another fight begins: the one that the attacked women are currently leading to keep their heads held high and not be forced to shut up, out of fear or under pressure from those around them. This is what Sayema Rahman says. “Families and relatives should not tell these women to be silent to avoid being targeted. Their freedom should not be restricted. On the contrary, they are targeted because they have an impact on society, so we must support them. “, insists the journalist.
The zeal displayed in this new investigation also made it possible to arrest the supposed creator of the first application of its kind, launched last July. This gives hope to these women that this horrific harassment has not been left completely unpunished.