SC notice on plea by Sulli Deals app accused seeking clubbing of FIRs

Supreme Court. File Pic

The Supreme Court on Friday agreed to examine a petition filed by Aumkareshwar Thakur, accused of creating the 'Sulli Deals' app on GitHub, seeking clubbing of various FIRs registered against him across the country.

A bench headed by Justice Sanjay Kishan Kaul issued notice to the Delhi, Uttar Pradesh and Maharashtra police and sought their affidavits within three weeks.

During the hearing, Justice Kaul observed that each woman whose picture was uploaded on the auctioning site is "an aggrieved party" and can in such a situation multiple FIRs be clubbed.

"There are different offences. one is Sulli deals and another is Bullibai. Can different offences be clubbed? You have uploaded photos of multiple women and each is an aggrieved party. You are saying these should be clubbed because both websites are yours?" the bench said.

'Can you say whatever is uploaded on the website must be confined to one FIR?' the bench asked the counsel appearing for Thakur.

The Advocate appearing for Thakur told the bench that his client is not named in any FIR and there are allegations against him that he helped in setting up the website.

The petition sought clubbing of various FIRs across the country in connection with offences related to the app 'Sulli Deal of the day' in which scores of Muslim women were put on "sale".

The petitioner is accused in three FIRs registered in New Delhi, Noida and Mumbai.

The app created a major uproar last year for allegedly targeting Muslim women and uploading their images without their consent.

The plea said: "The relief sought in the present writ petition is in terms of the judgment passed by this court in TT Antony vs State of Kerala for quashing of all the same or similar FIRs except the first one and that a single investigation may be proceeded with. In the alternative, the petitioner prays for clubbing of all the subsequent FIRs with the first FIR, registered at PS Special Cell, Delhi."

Police have claimed Thakur joined a group on Twitter by the name of 'Tradmahasabha' in January 2020 using the handle @gangescion and the members had discussed about trolling Muslim women. He had developed the application on Github.

Delhi Police in January arrested the Madhya Pradesh resident Aumkareshwar Thakur who is the alleged creator of the application 'Sulli Deals' - a GitHub app that targeted hundreds of Muslim women.

According to Delhi Police, Neeraj Bishnoi who was arrested in connection with the portal 'Bulli Bai', disclosed Thakur's name and alleged he was behind the creation of the portal 'Sulli Deal of the day'. Thakur was apprehended from his residence in Indore on January 8 this year.

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