[Bulli Bai case] Bail hearing of accused Vishal Jha adjourned after Investigation Officer tests positive for COVID

The hearing in bail plea filed by Vishal Sudhirkumar Jha first arrested accused in Bulli Bai case, was adjourned for Friday after the Investigation Officer tested positive for COVID-19..The Cyber Cell of Mumbai Police sought adjournment for a day citing the same which was granted by the Magistrate.Jha himself had contracted COVID earlier after which the Court had sent him to judicial custody instead of police custody. Jha, an engineering student from Bangalore, was detained on January 3, 2021, and was first produced before the Metropolitan Magistrate Court at Bandra on January 4, 2021.He had then been remanded to police custody until January 10 when he was sent to judicial custody after he tested positive for COVID-19..The case has its genesis in an app 'Bulli bai' which appeared on open source platform GitHub.The app put out details of more than 100 prominent Muslim women allowing users to participate in an 'auction' of those women.It triggered an outrage and based on complaints by women who had been targeted by the app, the cyber cell of Mumbai police registered an FIR on January 1, 2022.The FIR was registered against relevant Twitter handles and developer of Bulli Bai for offences under Sections 153A (promoting enmity on grounds of religion etc), 153B (imputations prejudicial to national-integration), 295A (insulting religious beliefs), 354D (stalking), 509 (word, gesture or act intended to insult the modesty of a woman), 500 (criminal defamation) of the Indian Penal Code and Section 67 (publishing or transmitting obscene material in electronic form) of Information Technology Act.Jha in his bail plea has contended that he was falsely implicated in the case and denied having committed any offence.He submitted that the prosecution has not alleged that Jha was one of the users of the twitter handles @bullibai, @ Sageox11, @hmmachaniceoki, @jattkhalsa7 and @wannabesigmaf which were allegedly involved in the case or was one of the creators of the Bulli Bai app.He was accused of being user of twitter account by the name - @khalsa but he has claimed that the prosecution failed to make out a case that this account had been used to malign the image of the complainant or any other women.The agency was already seized of one laptop, one mobile phone and 2 sim cards from him, and hence he was not in a position to tamper with those articles which could be possible evidence, it was contended.Jha further submitted that the main accused was a resident of Delhi and the other accused were from different states.His contention was that he was in no manner associated or known to the other accused persons and hence there was no intent to commit the offence.Jha also pointed out that he had no criminal antecedents and highlighted that the offences alleged against him were punishable with less than 3 years of sentence."Incarceration in the present case is unwarranted to avoid pre-judicial sentence," Jha emphasized in his plea.Jha also told the Court that he was en engineering student and had excelled with flying colours in academics. He showed his willingness to furnish a proper security and abide by all the conditions put forth by the Court.