[Bulli Bai Case] Mumbai court grants bail to Vishal Jha, Shweta Singh and Mayank Rawat; rejects plea of two others

A Mumbai court on April 12 granted bail to three accused in the Bulli Bai App Case - Vishal Jha, Shweta Singh and Mayank Rawat..Magistrate KC Rajput, however, denied bail to two other accused Neerajkumar Singh and Omkareshwar Thakur.The Court while granting bail to Jha, Singh and Rawat attributed majority of the blame to the other accused."They though attained substantial age of majority and understanding abused tender understanding and immaturity of other accused persons...," she observed..Another accused and applicant, Neeraj Bishnoi, had to withdraw his application due to technical reasons. 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 a first information report (FIR) on January 1, 2022.The prosecution claimed that the app had been hosted on GitHub by accused Neeraj Bishnoi.It was also discovered that Bishnoi relied upon the source code of 'Sulli deals' an app created earlier by Omkareshwar Thakur in order to make another app 'Bulli Deala'On December 31, 2021, the app link had been shared by the accused on their respective twitter handles as per instructions of Bishnoi.The Cyber Cell alleged that the accused targeted a majority of Muslim women who were particularly active on social media.The Court had earlier denied rejected the bail plea filed by the accused before the filing of the chargesheet. Subsequently, the Mumbai Police had filed a 917-page chargesheet. The accused had then approached the Court seeking bail.They submitted that they were innocent and not connected with the alleged acts. They contended that since the investigation was over, the charge-sheet filed and no serious offence was made out against them they should be released on bail considering their tender age. They also undertook to abide by all the bail conditions..The special prosecutor vehemently opposed all the applications. He argued that a prima facie case was made out against them and the evidence collected so far clearly reflected the role of the accused. He further added that the actions of the accused had adverse ramifications on the harmony of the nation and also threatened its integrity. He, therefore, prayed for rejection of the application..The Court after hearing the parties noted that the investigation will require a substantial amount of time to conclude. It also took the view that the evidence was technical in nature hence there was almost no chance of it being tampered with.It then concluded that Neeraj Bishnoi, Neerajkumar Singh and Omkareshwar Thakur had created the app with a malafide intention and the same was reflected from the record. It was of the opinion that Bishnoi, Thakur and Neerajkumar Singh took advantage of the immaturity of the other three accused to achieve their goal. The applications of Thakur and Singh were, therefore, denied while Bishnoi withdrew his plea as it was not signed by him or his advocate.As for the other three, the Court noted that they were of tender age and if they are kept incarcerated, it would adversely affect their future prospects as they would be prevented from appearing for their exams. "Bail is rule and jail is an exception," the Court emphasized.Therefore, it granted bail to Vishal Jha, Shweta Singh and Mayank Rawat subject to furnishing personal bond of ₹25,000 and surety of the same amount. They were also ordered not to tamper with the evidence or leave the country or contact any witnesses.Their parents were instructed to get them counselled about norms of social behaviour including behaviour on social media.