On humanitarian grounds, a Delhi court granted bail to Niraj Bishnoi, the culprit in the ‘Bulli Bai’ app case, and Omkareshwar Thakur, the founder of the ‘Sulli Deals’ app.
The court reasoned that the defendants are first-time offenders, and that keeping them in prison would be damaging to their overall wellbeing.
Delhi Court grants bail to Aumkareshwar Thakur, accused of creating the #SulliDeals app on #Github.
“Accused is a first time offender and a young person as such prolonged incarceration would be detrimental to his overall well being,” says Court. pic.twitter.com/5paa5Ec5sH
— Live Law (@LiveLawIndia) March 28, 2022
Their bail, however, is subject to stringent terms. They are not permitted to leave the country and are required to appear in court when summoned. They must also maintain their cellphones and provide the investigating officer with their contact information and whereabouts.
They are also prohibited from contacting any victims or tampering with evidence.
As reported by the Deccan Herald, the court judgement said that the accused has roots in the community and is not a flight risk. As a result, Thakur was granted bail on the condition that he post a Rs 50,000 bond with conditions.
Twitter users found an app named ‘Sulli Deals’ in July 2021 that featured photos of Muslim women without their consent. It urges users to take part in a women’s ‘auction’ with the tagline ‘Sulli deal of the day’.
Bulli Bai, an identical app, was discovered in January 2022. Hundreds of Muslim women’s images were uploaded on the open-source website GitHub without their consent for a virtual ‘auction.’
Omkareshwar Thakur, aged 25 and Niraj Bishnoi, aged 21 were both detained in January of this year on suspicion of creating these applications.
