Accused in Sulli Deals app case granted bail

Prolonged incarceration of first-time offender could be detrimental to his overall well-being, says court

A Delhi court on Monday granted bail to Aumkareshwar Thakur, the alleged creator of the mobile app Sulli Deals, on the grounds that he was a “first-time offender and prolonged incarceration could be detrimental to his overall well-being”.

Chief Metropolitan Magistrate Pankaj Kumar, while issuing the order, said the argument that replies from various intermediaries and the Forensic Science Laboratory (FSL) report are awaited cannot be grounds to deny Thakur bail as he cannot influence the FSL report.

However, Thakur will not be able to walk out of jail now as he is named in another chargesheet filed by Mumbai Police in the matter.

Thakur was arrested from his house in Madhya Pradesh’s Indore earlier this year for allegedly creating the app that “auctioned” several Muslim women online. FIRs were lodged against the app in Delhi and Noida.

Thakur’s arrest was made following the disclosure statement of Neeraj Bishnoi, the creator of Bulli Bai, another application created on GitHub, where several prominent Muslim women were “auctioned” this year. According to senior police officers, Bishnoi, too, was granted bail by the same court on Monday.