Many Indian Muslim women 'up for sale' in online auctions
- 11 Jul 2021
Gulf Today Report
Dozens of Muslim women in India found they had been put up for sale in fake auctions online without their approval.
Delhi Police are investigating how the women were offered for sale in the app.
It was recently reported that photos of more than 80 Muslim women were uploaded on an open software development platform (GitHub) called "Sulli's Day Deal."
Hana Muhsin Khan, a commercial pilot whose name was on the list, was alerted by one of her friends who sent her a tweet, including the photos of the women.
The tweet took her to the website that had taken publicly available photos of young ladies and created profiles, describing the women as deals of the day.
On the next two pages, Hana saw pictures of her friends. On the page after that she saw herself. Hana said, "The fourth photo was mine."
"They really auctioned me off as their slave that day. I got goosebumps. From that day till today, I am just in a state of anger."
There was no real auction of any kind. The purpose of the app was just to degrade and humiliate Muslim women.
GitHub reports that it has now suspended user accounts because it violated its policies on harassment, discrimination, and incitement to violence.
However, Delhi Police filed charges — but against unknown people because they do not know the identity of the perpetrators.
Hana said in one of her tweets, she had been targeted because of her religion. I'm a Muslim woman who's seen and heard. And they want to silence us, she said.
The people who made the app used fake identities, but Hasiba Amin, a social media coordinator for the opposition Congress party, blamed several accounts which regularly attack Muslims, especially Muslim women, and claim to support right-wing politics.
