Online ‘sale’: ‘Targeted for being Muslim women’

I counted at least 83 images on the portal. Impunity enjoyed by the abusers must end, they say.

We were targeted for being Muslim women and being vocal on social media, say women who were ‘sold’ online on a mobile application whose name uses a derogatory term for Muslim women. Last week, the Delhi Police Cyber Cell registered an FIR against the app for sharing images of the women without their consent. It also sent a notice to the web platform that hosted the app. “A friend sent me a tweet last week with a link to an app that was conducting an online sale of Muslim women. I clicked on the link, which took me to the homepage with a message that read ‘find your [derogatory term]’. When I clicked on that message, a picture of a woman would appear describing it as the deal of the day. That’s how I found my picture there as well as pictures of some of my friends,” says Hana Mohsin Khan, a commercial pilot. She counted at least 83 images on the portal.