'A vocal Muslim woman is everything that they hate,' says Hasiba Amin on 'Bulli Bai', 'Sulli Deal' cases

She said that such an incident has recurred as there was no action in the first instance and that there is no political will to guarantee protection to women

Congress social media team’s national convenor, Hasiba Amin, was targeted in the 'Bulli Bai' and the 'Sulli Deals' harassment cases. She says that the attackers targeted her and others specifically for being vocal women from the Muslim community. She says that even as she is willing to fight it out, it does take its toll. Edited excerpts:

How did you find out that you were on the list?

I did not find out for half a day; I was spending time with my family and was away from the phone. Then I saw some messages and calls from people who had seen (it). By the time I opened the link, it was taken down. I managed to see a screengrab video of the ‘auction’.

You were part of the 'SulliDeals' harassment case as well. Can you tell us what happened?

I was part of an auction that took place on Twitter. Everyone is talking about two instances — SulliDeals and BulliBai both on GitHub — but there have been five instances. The first one was on YouTube where users @LiberalDoge and Keshav, who have over 80,000 subscribers, had a live video where women in their Eid clothes were ‘auctioned’ off and men were passing lewd comments.

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Most of the women were Pakistani and some were Indian. This then moved on to Twitter where users like @SulliDeals101 and @SulliDeals_ would post pictures of women and start bids and men would post their comments. I was a part of that. It happened on Eid in May and I filed an FIR. Then there was an auction that took place on the app, another on ClubHouse and now, BullyBai.

How far along is the investigation?

The last time, as it had got considerable attention, I went with great passion and hope to the police. But nothing really happened. As far as I know, the investigation did not move any further. We gave them a lot of information and articles. Some sites pointed at suspects, too. I remain hopeful that they may be forced to act under pressure, because I realised they lacked the will to act.

This time around, I did not go to the Delhi Police but responded to the call of the Maharashtra home minister, who invited victims to come forward and speak to him. I’m in touch with the state’s cybercrime department.

The impunity and the fearlessness despite committing a criminal offence comes from the knowledge that nothing will happen. The reason this has happened a second time is because of inaction from the first time.

There are reports that GitHub has not replied to Delhi Police’s letter.

GitHub is not an Indian company, it is based in the US, and there will be international laws like MLAT invoked in case of intercountry issues. This is where political will becomes extremely important; writing a letter and throwing the ball in their court and then raising their hands up is a convenient way to not investigate the case. There’s a lot that can be done. The information is on a global platform and this puts us at a far greater risk.

Also Read — DCW summons Delhi Police in connection with probe into 'Bulli Bai', 'Sulli Deal' cases

Ideally, there should have been the involvement of a lot more people. For instance, the women and child development minister hasn’t even spoken a word on it. In Anushka Sharma and Virat Kohli’s rape threat case, they hunted down a person behind an anonymous handle. If there is a will, they can do it.

What has changed for you since the incident? Also, there are a lot of women who probably do not have the same power as you, what would you say to them?

I recognise my privilege, and some of us can make a lot more noise than others. Yet, despite that privilege, I have toned down a lot on social media. We all have families who get bothered a lot, especially with this level of helplessness. There’s no assurance from the government. Those of us with privilege are here to support the lesser privileged.

What would you say is the objective behind this toxic combination of Islamophobia and misogyny?

Like in the past, when women were considered spoils of war, in these regressive, toxic masculine mindsets, the genuine belief is that women are objects. This is a way of showing the community its place, and the women their place. A vocal Muslim woman is everything that they hate – they hate women, they hate women who speak up, and they hate Muslims. All the women they targeted had a combination of these three things.

The Congress has promised 40% seats to women in Uttar Pradesh. Do you believe that this will help change things in the state?

I think political representation and women being in positions of power is extremely important for us right now. One of the reasons we continue to be oppressed and treated the way we do is because we are not equally represented or not in positions of power, whether it is in the judiciary, the media, medicine or any other field. The only way we are going to have our voice heard or our issues genuinely raised is when we have equal representation. Our population is 50%.

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