'Bulli Bai' app case: Delhi court rejects anticipatory bail to Vishal Jha

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The Patiala House Court's Session Court rejected the anticipatory bail petition of Vishal Sudhir Kumar Jha in relation to the 'Bulli Bai' app case and said that the allegation against the applicant (Vishal Sudhirkumar Jha) is grave in nature as it is a direct onslaught upon the dignity and modesty of the woman of a particular community.

Additional Session Judge Dharmender Rana while passing the order in the case said, "I concur with the Additional Public Prosecutor that to unravel the obscure and undetected aspects of the crime, sustained custodial interrogation of the applicant is desirable. Considering the totality of circumstances, I do not find any merit in the application at hand and the same is accordingly dismissed."

The court observed that the accused Niraj Bishnoi in cahoots with the applicant (Vishal) and other co-accused persons has developed the scandalous 'Bulli Bai' app. "The conduct of the accused persons in the case is against the ever cherished constitutional ethos of secularism and fraternity ensuring the dignity of any individual and modesty of a woman." Vishal Sudhirkumar Jha in anticipatory bail plea submitted that he is a resident of Bihar and an engineering student. He is presently staying in a hostel in Karnataka.

The plea submitted that the applicant has been falsely implicated in the present case as he has nothing to do with the alleged offence. It is submitted that the applicant has no role to play in the creation of the alleged app and even if, for the sake of arguments, it is presumed that the applicant was following the 'Bulli Bai' app, then this in no manner constitutes an offence.

The plea further submitted that the present applicant himself surrendered before the office of Cyber Crime (BKC) Western Division, Mumbai on January 4 but on January 10, he tested positive and subsequently, he was remanded to judicial custody on January 10. It is further submitted that all his electronic devices i.e. his mobile phone, laptop and two sim cards are already in possession of the investigating agency and hence there are no chances of the applicant tampering with the evidence. It is submitted that the applicant is apprehending his arrest in the present case thus moving his anticipatory bail petition.

Earlier the court had rejected the bail plea of 'Bulli Bai' app creator Niraj Bishnoi and said that a vilification campaign against women containing derogatory content and offending material having communal overtones was run on this App being made by the accused. The magistrate Court earlier, also noted that the facts disclose that the accused created the app "Bulli Bai" where women journalists and celebrities of a particular community who are famous on social media were targeted and they are projected in a bad light with an objective to insult and humiliate them by objectification.

Niraj Bishnoi was arrested recently by the Delhi Police Special Cell's Intelligence Fusion and Strategic Operations unit (IFSO) team from Assam for the alleged involvement in the Bulli Bai case. Niraj Bishnoi (20) is a resident of the Digambar area of Assam's Jorhat. He is a B.Tech student of the Vellore Institute of Technology, Bhopal.

Delhi Police had said that during interrogation, Niraj Bishnoi disclosed that the app was developed in Nov 2021 and updated in Dec'21 and he had said that he created one more Twitter account to talk about the app. Several complaints were received by police stations in the country regarding the listing of Muslim women for "auction" on the 'Bulli Bai' mobile application with photographs sourced without permission and doctored. It has happened for the second time in less than a year. The app appeared to be a clone of 'Sulli Deals' which triggered a similar row last year.

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