Bazaar

A complaint was filed by a woman with the Mumbai Police crime branch on Jan 2 against unknown persons who developed an app. The app was hosted on US based GitHub on Dec 31. Doctored photos of at least 100 Muslim women, along with lewd remarks & comments were posted online.

A 22 year old Engineering student, Vishal Kumar Jha was detained in Bangalore & then brought to Mumbai. He revealed that he became friends with a woman on social media & created the app together. ‘Four Twitter accounts were used to upload pictures on social media. Of which three were handled by the woman & one by him’ the sources say.

The woman is also detained in Uttarakhand & being brought to Mumbai. With the crime revealed & perpetrators in custody it is not the end of the story.

The main thought remains why did they do it? Why bend so far to commit a crime?? When I read it first, I was reminded of Smita Patil’s ‘Bazaar’ & how the sale of a daughter in a Muslim community is ordinary. The split of Supriya Pathak & Farooq Sheikh is something that stings.

The media brings us closer but the anonymity is scary. Getting names so as to hide behind it for commiting hideous crimes ??? Involvement of a woman is a shock. Where is the solidarity, the sisterhood??

Into the 20th century & we are in the barbaric age, again???