Hiba Begg, a PhD student in the US, went to New Delhi last weekend to visit her grandmother's grave. There, she explains to the New York Times, she learned that it had been put "up for sale" to the highest bidder in an online competition. It was the second time it had happened to her in less than a year.
Her cell phone was ringing off the hook with calls and calls from friends. All of them wanted to show her the same picture, of a profile created for her within the app of the website Bulli Bai, which ran fake auctions. Begg, who used to work as a journalist and is a well-known face on the Indian internet, is not the only victim of this case. More than 100 other prominent Muslim Indian women, including artists, journalists, activists and lawyers, found that their photos posted online were used without their permission by the app that appeared on Saturday and disappeared again within about 24 hours.
Two "auction" apps in a few months
In June, another, similar app, Sulli Deals, had appeared on the Indian internet. Both the terms used by the apps are derogatory to Muslim women. That one had remained posted for several weeks and was not removed until after repeated protests by the victims. Although the police conducted an investigation, no charges were filed against anyone.
India's online public sphere is rife with misogyny and harassment towards women. But the two "auctions" have multiplied anxieties about the organised nature of online bullying, and the fact that shaming and threats of violence (especially sexual violence) are being used to silence women, especially those who criticise some of the policies of the Indian Prime Minister, Narendra Modi.
"Intimidation targets Muslim women who raise their voices against injustice in order to force them to leave public life," argues 26-year-old Begg, who is currently pursuing her PhD at Columbia University. "But we don't back down, even when the situation gets out of hand."
Women activists in the crosshairs
Muslim women are at the forefront of one of the largest protest movements to have erupted in India over the past few decades. In early 2020, before the country's pandemic effectively began, thousands took to the streets to protest a new citizenship law that they felt held a biased attitude towards Muslims.
Among the women "up for auction" were Fatima Nafis, the mother of a student/activist who disappeared more than five years ago after an altercation with a far-right student organisation, as well as a film star who later turned to social activism, a researcher and several other prominent Muslim women.
Both the app that appeared in June and the most recent one were available through GitHub, a Microsoft-owned app creation site based in San Francisco. On Sunday, India's federal communications minister, Ashwini Vaishnau, said GitHub had blocked the user who created the app in question. GitHub has not publicly commented on the case.
Dismay and horror
Karti Chidambaram, an Indian opposition MP, tweeted that he felt dismay that the culprits apparently felt they had leeway to do so because of the government's inaction on the earlier incident.
"It is unacceptable that this act of dangerous misogyny against Muslims has been repeated," he said.
On Monday, police in the southern state of Andhra Pradesh said they were conducting an investigation and had filed charges against multiple Twitter users and the people who developed the app, based on a complaint filed by a Muslim woman.
But many women mystics said the lack of progress in previous cases makes them pessimistic about the outcome.
For years, Begg has openly criticized the ruling party's Hindu nationalists and the anti-minority policies introduced by the Modi government. As a result, she has been the victim of intense internet harassment, including receiving death threats on Twitter.
Over the years and with the pressure mounting, she says she began to self-censor herself, avoiding posts critical of Hindu nationalist policies.
As she explains to the Times, she is concerned about growing intolerance in the country, but the latest incident, in her view, highlights the way in which an online mechanism is being mobilized to force Muslim women to withdraw from public life, effectively eliminating any opposition.
Hashiba Amin, social media officer for the opposition Congress party, whose face also appeared in the app, argues that the fact that violence and threats to the lives of minorities have now escaped social media has made her lose sleep.
"What guarantees does the government give us that tomorrow threats and intimidation on social media will not turn into actual sexual violence on the streets?" she asks.
Source: in.gr
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