In yet another incident a 21-year-old woman has accused the driver of an Uber cab of trying to kiss her forcefully after getting off at her destination in Gurgaon, putting the taxi-hailing company in a fresh controversy just in a period of six months after the alleged rape of a passenger in Delhi which has led to the service being banned in the capital city.
The victim woman, lives in Delhi and is a professional dancer, she boarded the cab from Pacific Mall at about 9 PM to go to Gurgaon to attend her friend's party. The driver, Vinod, allegedly tried to make small talk and be friendly with her throughout the journey, by asking about her family, friends, etc. "At one point, he said 'madam, aap bahut smart lag rahe ho (madam, you're looking very smart)," she told. "But he didn't misbehave during the journey," she said.
After she got off the cab at Suncity, Vinod alighted, too, to help her take her bags out of the boot. "He offered a handshake and kissed my hand. Before I could recover from the shock, he pulled me towards him and tried to kiss me again. I pushed him away with the bag in my hand and ran to my friend's home," she said. Vinod, she added, was driving a Swift Dzire and "seemed to be around 40 years old".
Her brother posted an online complaint with Uber states, "My sister availed your cab service, last night for Gurgaon and your driver Vinod tried to kiss her forcibly and even after registering a complaint with you morons, there has been no action, no update from your end. You people are pathetic you still don't have any mechanism in place. What is making you people wait for so long?? Looking for a (sic) escape mechanism?? I am looking for immediate, non-mechanical, machine oriented revert. Get the culprit punished or you are in heaps of trouble for shielding him."
“Our team immediately reached out to the rider via phone within minutes of receiving the feedback. Uber has a zero-tolerance policy towards inappropriate behaviour and immediate action has already been taken with the driver partner even while the matter is being thoroughly investigated," the company said.
Terming it as a "worrisome", Association of Radio Taxi India called for an immediate action in this regard. "It is indeed a very worrisome situation for Taxi industry. Despite the ban in Delhi these services are growing," said Kunal Lalani, President of Association of Radio Taxi India and Chairman, Mega cabs. "The situation needs to be addressed immediately before something more heinous happens. Though we need Ola and Uber but not at the cost of such mishaps," he added.
The Gurgaon police has received a complaint from the victim woman through an email, narrating the incident. “In the complaint, the woman has alleged that she took an Uber cab from Pacific Mall in Delhi to Suncity in Gurgaon during which the incident took place”, said Rajesh Kumar, ACP (crime).
By Premji
