Bulli Bai app case: Larger interest of the society is at stake: Court while refusing bail to Shweta Singh

This was the second attempt by Singh to seek bail, the earlier plea being rejected by a magistrate court

Mumbai: A sessions court in Mumbai on Friday while denying bail to the 19-year-old accused Shweta Singh who was arrested in the Bulli Bai app case observed that there was an intention to malign the Sikh community as the accused created fake Twitter handles using Sikh names in an attempt to mislead the public.

Shweta Singh who was arrested in the Bulli Bai app case observed that there was an intention to malign the Sikh community as the accused created fake Twitter handles using Sikh names in an attempt to mislead the public. (Getty Images)

The Bulli Bai app had made the details of several Muslim women public in a bid to malign them by allowing users to take part in their “auction”.

This was the second attempt by Singh to seek bail, the earlier plea being rejected by a magistrate court.

According to a detailed order that became available on Saturday, additional sessions judge Sanjashree Gharat that the Uttarakhand resident and others arrested in the case, tried to portray that the said act was committed by Sikh community and noted that the larger interest of the society is at stake.

The court noted that accused Vishal Kumar Jha had changed his Twitter handle name from Atriya to Khalasa Supermacist, Shweta Singh had changed it from @infinitude7 to @jattkhalsa7, another accused Mayank Rawat changed the name from @copingmeme to Khalsarajj @jatindarsingh bhullar, and accused Niraj Bishnoi replaced his earlier handle name Uday-@daydreamerr234 with @harpalsingh @sikh_khalsa11.

The court also took note of the prosecution claim that all the accused were members of the chat group “Trad Mahasabha” and after discussion in the group, the app in question was created by Bishnoi on open-source platform, GitHub.

“The investigation is still in progress. The role of the accused can’t be bifurcated at this stage from the rest of the accused. The Mumbai police has already sought custody of Bishnoi from Delhi police who arrested him and if at this stage the accused is granted bail the possibility of tampering with evidence can’t be ruled out,” the court added and rejected her bail plea.

Singh, an archaeology student of Banaras Hindu University, was arrested by Mumbai cyber cell on January 7.