Lyricist and poet Javed Akhtar has appealed for compassion for 18-year-old woman who was arrested by the Mumbai police in connection with the app that hosted doctored photographs and objectionable comments targeting Muslim women. It was earlier reported that the young woman reportedly lost her parents to cancer and COVID-19 recently.
Akhtar has been tweeting about the controversy, expressing his opinions. He had also condemned social media users who dragged his great grandfather into the controversy on Tuesday.
Javed Akhtar tweeted, “If “ bully bai” was really masterminded by an 18 year old girl who has recently lost her parents to cancer n Corona I think the women or some of them meet her and like kind elders make her understand that why what ever she did was wrong . Show her compassion and forgive her.”
The woman is suspected to be the main accused behind the app. She was arrested in Uttarakhand on Tuesday. Confirming the arrest, Uttarakhand DGP Ashok Kumar told The Indian Express: “As per our information the woman, identified as Shweta Singh, hails from Bulandshahr district in Uttar Pradesh and belongs to an economically weaker family. While we cannot say much about her exact involvement in the case, she allegedly created some fake IDs to commit the crime.”
The app used photos of over 100 Muslim women from across the country without their consent, alongside degrading text meant to imply they were being auctioned.
If “ bully bai” was really masterminded by an 18 year old girl who has recently lost her parents to cancer n Corona I think the women or some of them meet her and like kind elders make her understand that why what ever she did was wrong . Show her compassion and forgive her .
— Javed Akhtar (@Javedakhtarjadu) January 5, 2022
Actor Swara Bhaskar has also been constantly sharing posts about the investigation around the said website. Reposting a tweet from a news agency about the arrest of the 18-year-old, the actor wrote, “नए भारत का भविष्य ! (Future of the new India),” with a number of clap emojis.
Pooja Bhatt had earlier demanded that the names of the culprits should be made public. She wrote, “A 21 yr old ‘student’ has been detained in the #BulliBaiApp case? Gratitude @MumbaiPolice but do finally reveal the young man’s face. No more anonymity.Students or self proclaimed saints-men with such inherent self loathing & abhorrence for women at large are a threat to society.”
A 21 yr old ‘student’ has been detained in the #BulliBaiApp case? Gratitude @MumbaiPolice but do finally reveal the young man’s face. No more anonymity.Students or self proclaimed saints-men with such inherent self loathing & abhorrence for women at large are a threat to society pic.twitter.com/Xw79StOSmp
— Pooja Bhatt (@PoojaB1972) January 4, 2022
Terribly saddening to see an “18yr old girl” behind vile n sickening #BulliBaiApp What’s even more disgusting is d deafening silence of most women leaders,ministers,anchors.Wakeup India before this ever consuming hatred,bigotry,misogyny destroys us completely. @MumbaiPolice 👍❤ https://t.co/KlXQ2OMtJ0
— Urmila Matondkar (@UrmilaMatondkar) January 5, 2022
Actor-politician Urmila Matondkar also opened up about the case and called out the ‘defeaning silence of most women leaders, ministers, anchors’. “Terribly saddening to see an “18yr old girl” behind vile n sickening #BulliBaiApp What’s even more disgusting is d deafening silence of most women leaders,ministers,anchors.Wakeup India before this ever consuming hatred,bigotry,misogyny destroys us completely. @MumbaiPolice❤,” she wrote, congratulating Mumbai police for the arrests.
