My Report: “Can’t Take an Uber Pool After the Way I Was Attacked”

A Mumbai-based journalist says she was brutally attacked by her female co-passenger during an Uber ride.

Ushnota’s only fault was she tried a heated argument between her co-passenger and the driver. 

(Photo: Yasmeen Nazir/The Quint)

Editor: Rahul Sanpui

I can never trust any other co-passenger, stranger, and travel with that person again.  

Ushnota Paul

Mumbai journalist Ushnota Paul on 25 June allege that she had been attacked by a female co-passenger in an Uber Pool cab.

In a series of tweets, Paul accused her fellow-passenger of assaulting her and hurling racial expletives at her.

In her My Report for The Quint, Paul recounts the incident, saying her only fault was that she intervened when the woman was “abusing the driver for dropping her last”.

After the incident took place near Lower Parel in Mumbai, Paul and the driver went to a police station and registered a complaint against the attacker. However, when cops called Uber, the company refused to divulge the co-passenger’s information due to “customer privacy” norms.

It was only after Paul’s tweets garnered attention, did the cab aggregator finally share the woman’s name and other information.

On 26 June, Uber released a statement, asserting that the accused could no longer avail the services of the app. “It is is deeply upsetting & against our community guidelines. The co-rider in question cannot access the app. We’ve reached out to authorities to offer info that could be helpful in their proceedings,” the statement read.

Uber shouldn’t feel, “Let this matter pass. People will forget about it.” I’m going to fight. 

Ushnota Paul

The experience has left a deep impact on Ushnota, who feels she may never be able to share a cab with a stranger. But she does have a strong message for her attacker, “I want you to know that you can’t just get away with being racist.  This is just not done.”