New Delhi
Indian government says it is investigating a website that purported to offer Muslim women for sale, the second time in less than a year that a fake online auction of this kind has sparked outrage in the country.
The website was created on GitHub, an American coding platform which developers use to build and host software.
Media reports claimed that the site posted photos of 100 Muslim women.
The page has been removed, and there’s no indication that it had any practical use beyond using a fake auction to harass and troll Muslim women.
GitHub, which is owned by Microsoft (MSFT), said it had taken down an account.
“GitHub has longstanding policies against content and conduct involving harassment, discrimination, and inciting violence,” a spokesperson said. “We suspended a user account following the investigation of reports of such activity, all of which violate our policies.”
According to Zubair, a local who is helping police with the investigation — the page included photos of Pakistani Nobel laureate Malala Yousafzai and prominent Indian actress Shabana Azmi. Several journalists and activists in the country also posted screenshots of the site after finding their photos listed next to the words, “Your Bulli Bai of the Day is.”
The page caused outrage on Twitter over the weekend. Politicians from opposition parties urged the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) to take action against the online harassment and targeting of Muslim women.
“To ‘sell’ someone online is a cybercrime and I call on the police to take immediate action,” tweeted Congress leader Shashi Tharoor. “The perpetrators deserve exemplary & condign punishment.”
On Sunday, India’s technology minister Ashwini Vaishnaw tweeted that the government “is working with police organizations in Delhi and Mumbai on this matter.”
“The entire website seems to have been designed with the intent of embarrassing and insulting Muslim women,” wrote journalist Ismat Ara in a complaint filed with Delhi Police cybersecurity authorities. Ara, who found her photo on the site, tweeted a copy of her police complaint.
