Suo motu FIR on offensive online chat
The Delhi Police on Tuesday registered an FIR (first information report) against unknown persons over an offensive chat on Clubhouse, a social audio network, in which participants could be heard making derogatory comments about Muslim women.
Clips of the taped audio conversation have since been widely shared on social media platforms and though HT could not independently verify the authenticity of a 2.20 minute leaked audio clip that it is in possession of, the screen showed that there were at least 70 to 80 participants in the particular Clubhouse discussion.
This is the third such case in the past eight months, wherein offensive photographs or messages were posted online to target Muslim women.
The first was the “Sulli Deals” app on GitHub in July and the second was the “Bulli Deals” app, which was flagged earlier this month. Both apps featured doctored photographs of prominent Muslim women along with offensive and derogatory comments about them.
They were taken down after widespread outrage and the police registering cases against five men for creating the two apps. Police have maintained that the two alleged app developers -- Neeraj Bishnoi, a BTech student, and Aumkareshwar Thakur, a freelance web developer -- were self-radicalised.
In the Clubhouse case, the audio clips revealed participants purportedly making offensive comments about Muslim women during a discussion session that took place on Monday afternoon.
The clip has since been widely circulated on other platforms, leading to a public outcry. On Tuesday, the Delhi Commission for Women (DCW) issued a notice to the Delhi Police’s cybercrime unit, the Intelligence Fusion Strategic Operations (IFSO), seeking details of the action taken.
The Delhi Commission for Women also sought to know from the police why no one has been arrested in the matter so far. KPS Malhotra, chief of the Intelligence Fusion Strategic Operations, said, “We have filed a case suo motu against unidentified persons. The case has been filed under IPC sections of 153A (promoting enmity between different groups on grounds of religion), 295A (deliberate and malicious act, intended to outrage religious feelings), and 354A (sexual harassment).”
In response to HT’s email seeking a comment on the matter, a Clubhouse spokesperson said, “There is absolutely no place for hate or abuse on the platform. We invest significantly in keeping our community safe and take swift action at any violation of policies. In this instance, the room was reported and those involved in organising were quickly actioned.”
Meanwhile, the investigation into the two offensive apps had initially hit a road block, after GitHub refused to share details of its users. Delhi Police was able to trace the alleged culprits and make arrests after one of the them, Bishnoi, masked his identity on Twitter and claimed responsibility for the app. Bishnoi was arrested from his house in Jorhat, Assam, said police.
It was on his “confession statement” that police arrested Thakur from Indore, Bhopal. Thakur, police said, is the creator of the second GitHub app.
Police have said the two men knew each other on social media platforms.