Vishal Jha, 21, an engineering student from Bengaluru accused in the Bulli Bai App case, moved the City Civil and Sessions Court on Friday, a day after the magistrate court rejected his bail.
His bail application will be heard next week. The Bulli Bai App was made to ‘auction’ Muslim women by doctoring their photographs. The Magistrate Court at Bandra on January 20 rejected Mr. Jha’s bail along with co-accused Shweta Singh, 19 and Mayank Rawat, 21 from Uttarakhand.
Mr. Jha filed for bail on the ground that he comes from a respected family and has no criminal antecedent. The plea stated the only allegation is that he is a follower/subscriber of the app. The Mumbai police, however said, “Prima facie the contents of the app appears to be uploaded with the view of creating enmity amongst religions. It is having connection with the previous app Sullideals (a similar app posting photographs of Muslim women). The offences are against women of a particular community and targeted them with the intention to defame womanhood.”
‘Allegations serious’
In a detailed order, metropolitan magistrate Komalsing Rathod held: “The record shows the active involvement of the accused in propagating and disseminating information/data relating to women contained in the app. The allegations are serious and need thorough investigation.”
The court said, “It came on record that the app is not created by the accused but by other persons, who are now in the custody of the Delhi police. The information obtained from those needs to be verified with the current accused. No doubt the accused persons are students of tender age and they have fundamental right to life and liberty. But those rights are subjected to reasonable restrictions. They are found to have committed serious acts defaming womanhood. The larger interest of society is at stake, therefore, their personal liberty can be said to be curtailed without following the process of law.”
