Accused Booked For Cyber Crime On Clubhouse Asks "What Is Consent?"

Ritesh Jha, a boy from Bihar, has been named in an FIR by a Hindu woman after being targeted on the audio platform Clubhouse. The Mumbai Police Cell reportedly said that he was "absconding", which he denied. 

He has committed similar instances of targeting women and making Islamophobic content in the past as well. 

Accused Booked For Cyber Crime On Clubhouse Says 'I Am Not Absconding', Asks 'What Is Consent?'

Ritesh Jha reportedly hosted a live stream on YouTube by the name of "Eid Special" wherein he posted images of women from across the border. He took the pictures from their social media account without their consent and invited viewers to stare at them and rate the pictures. This incident occurred on May 13, 2021. 

According to reports, Ritesh Jha is a 24-year-old boy from Bihar and is a "self-learned" techie who has been using the platform to allegedly propagate Islamophobic content on social media. As per the Mumbai Police, Jha is "absconding" in a fresh case of harassment against him. This is regarding a case registered on January 19, 2022, where a 33-year-old Hindu woman was auctioned on the audio chat platform Clubhouse. The Mumbai Police cyber cell has arrested three men from Haryana and Jha is reportedly 'absconding'.

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He reportedly streamed the event online under the virtual name of "Liberal Doge Live" and asked the viewers to throw money at the women in pictures using the UPI link. The account put several Indian women "on-sale" after the stream was over. The account on Twitter by the name of Liberal Doge Live is inactive now. The text used was reportedly sexually explicit and propagated hate speech targeting Islam in particular. 

Sulli Deals and Bulli Bai apps that got removed for auctioning the Muslim women on the platform came after this incident. 

Jha has been previously booked in other cases as well. With various accounts under a different name, he has been allegedly targeting women. Some of the names he has used previously are- 'secure doge', 'liberal doge', 'ritesh jha'. On November 27, 2021, he was booked for passing casteist slur and sexist comments on a Clubhouse chat using ID 'uwu'.

As per the reports by ThePrint, Jha has contacted the media agency and has said that he is not 'absconding' and is ready to cooperate with police while currently being in Gurugram. He did not share his contact details though. Also, talking about consent, Jha asked "What is Consent?" and said he used the pictures of Pakistani women that were available online. "I did not auction Indian women and I have apologised for what I did", he added. When asked about 'Eid Special' he said to the media platform that he just appreciated beauty.