Delhi Lt. Governor grants sanction to prosecute main accused in 'Sulli Deals' case

Delhi Lt. Governor V.K. Saxena has granted sanction to prosecute the main accused in the 'Sulli Deals' case, Aumkareshwar Thakur under Section 196 (Criminal Conspiracy) of the Code of Criminal Procedure. a source confirmed on Sunday.

After the order from the L-G, Delhi Police will now be able to prosecute Thakur, a 26-year-old resident of Madhya Pradesh, who had created the Sulli Deals App and Sulli Deals Twitter Handle.

According to the source, the L-G has noted that he is "of the considered view that a prima facie case is made out against the accused, and therefore sanction is granted for prosecuting the accused for the commission of the offences" detailed in the FIR.

In July last year, an online app by the name of 'Sulli Deals' was launched in the open source platform GitHub. Orchestrated by Thakur, the app attempted to 'auction' Muslim women on the internet. This heinous attack against women's safety, rooted in communal sexism, triggered widespread rage across the nation.

Several revered Muslim women including the likes of Nobel-laureate Malala Yousafzai, lawyer Fatima Zohra Khan, journalists Ismat Ara, Quratulain Rehbar, and Rana Ayyub found their photos put up on the app for an online 'auction'.

Inspired by an earlier app called 'Bulli Bai', Thakur admitted that these apps were bereft of any "real transaction" and was solely meant to defame and degrade Muslim women, particularly known activists and journalist who often raise their voice against the state. Both 'Bulli' and 'Sulli' are derogatory terms used against Muslim women.

Thakur shut down the app and its associated social media platforms after massive public uproar. However, for months after its creation, the Delhi Police failed to make any headway until January this year when Thakur was arrested, days after cops had nabbed Vishal Jha, Shweta Singh, Mayank Rawat, and Neeraj Bishnoi from Bengaluru, Uttarakhand, and Assam respectively in the Bulli Bai case.