Over 100 high-profile Muslim women were 'auctioned' online in India, drawing intense criticism from politicians, rights advocates and others and putting pressure on GitHub for its role in hosting the app.

A derogatory term that refers to Muslim women, Bulli Bai in this instance referred to an app that displayed the names and doctored images of influential Muslim women. 

The images were obtained without consent from the womens' social media profiles and Hindus were invited to participate in a virtual 'auction' with the intention of humiliating them.

According to police investigating the case, the creators of the app identified as 'Trads' ('Traditionalists'), who promote genocide against minorities.

Open source software development platform GitHub came under fire for hosting Bulli Bai. The platform also hosted Sulli Deals, a near identical app that had run for weeks mid-2021 before being taken down.

A number of individuals were later arrested in connection with Bulli Bai and Sulli Deals.

The incident raised concerns about the nature and need to manage online and offline religious hatred and gender discrimination in India. 

It also raised questions questions about the willingness and ability of GitHub and Microsoft to police their platform.