AIPWA demands criminal action against 'Sulli Deals' app

Bengaluru: In a statement issued against the website/mobile application, 'Sulli Deals' which has faced ire of the Twitteratis, All India Prograssive Womens' Association demanded criminal action against the users and makers of the website/application.

"The latest in a recent spate of shocking incidents directed against Muslim women, is a website/mobile application titled "Sulli Deals" created to auction and sell Muslim women.

The application/website was hosted on a platform called Github, on which pictures of Muslim women along with details of their social media handles, taken without their consent, were displayed "for sale". Users would utilise the "Find your sulli deal of the day" feature, which was an auction of Muslim women, and post their "deals" along with pictures on their social

media. Several journalists, activists, researchers, artists, and analysts belonging to the Muslim commmity, were put up for "sale" on the platform, comprising Indian women and women from other nationalities," AIPWA made a statement. After the repeated demands from all sections of the society GitHub pulled down the application.

The association stated that 'Sulli' is a derogatory tem utilised to refer to Muslim women.

"The action of putting up pictures and details of Muslim women "for sale" shows the depraved and retrograde mentality of the se persons in their attempt to enslave Muslim women who are then "sold". It is a display of brute misogyny, which not only sexualises and targets women based on both their gender and religious identity, but looks to treat them as property," the statement read.

The platform alleged to be created with the sole intention of bullying, intimidating Muslim women was used by bots and promoted by the right wing groups on Twitter.