The Supreme Court on Friday issued notices to the governments of Delhi, Maharashtra and Uttar Pradesh on a writ petition filed by Aumkareshwar Thakur, the alleged creator of mobile application Sulli Deals, which was used in online auction of Muslim women.
The order was passed by a Bench of Justice Sanjay Kishan Kaul and Justice M.M. Sundresh on a plea seeking clubbing of multiple FIRs registered against Thakur across the country
The Apex Court further refused to stay the court proceedings in multiple cases registered against Thakur.
It orally observed that each victim was an aggrieved woman, who can file complaints separately.
The Bench noted that since there were multiple uploads, each person would have filed a complaint independently. All FIRs were different and need to be investigated separately, it added.
Earlier on March 28, a local court in Delhi had granted bail to Thakur on the grounds that he was a ‘first-time offender and prolonged incarceration could be detrimental to his overall well-being’.
Chief Metropolitan Magistrate Pankaj Kumar, while issuing the order, said the argument that replies from various intermediaries and the Forensic Science Laboratory report were awaited, could not be a ground to deny Thakur bail, since he was not in a position to influence the FSL report.
Delhi Police had arrested Thakur from his house in Madhya Pradesh’s Indore city in january, 2022. FIRs were lodged against Sulli Deals app in Delhi and Noida.
Thakur’s arrest followed the disclosure statement of Neeraj Bishnoi, the creator of Bulli Bai, another application created on GitHub, where several prominent Muslim women were ‘auctioned’ this year.
The issue gained prominence in July last year, after several Muslim women expressed concern over their pictures being uploaded in the app for virtual auction.
Thakur was today represented before the Apex Court by Senior Advocate Rajeev Sharma, assisted by Sahil Bhalaik, Advocate-on-Record and Advocate Tushar Giri.