In yet another incident of cab drivers harassing female passengers, an Ola driver allegedly molested a 23-year-old fashion styling student in his cab in Bengaluru. The incident occurred on Sunday, 3 December, at around 10:30 pm, when the woman was travelling alone from Indiranagar to the BTM layout.
According to the report filed by the victim, the driver allegedly used the child-lock facility to hold her hostage in the vehicle, before touching her. The woman started banging the window of the car to alert people.
However, the driver later unlocked the door after which the she ran to the nearest traffic junction for help.
The woman’s phone battery had run out, and hence could not contact anyone nor activate the SOS option on the app.
The Ola cab driver identified as Rajashekhar Reddy stopped the car on the way to Koramangala. “I was horror-struck since there was no sign of vehicles passing by. I could not even spot anybody in the vicinity of the area,” the victim told The Quint.
The woman reported the incident at the Madiwala police station the next morning. T Shiv Kumar, Assistant Commissioner of Police, Madiwala said that he issued a strict warning to the driver.
The woman denied giving a written complaint and requested that the driver be warned instead.T Shiv Kumar
According to her, the driver did not stop with that. He also called her multiple times the next morning threatening her with repercussions of complaining to Ola.
“I did not file an FIR since I am planning to leave the city in a few days from now. However, I registered a complaint with the cab aggregator the very same night and they promised to take the necessary action,” she said.
Ola has issued a statement after suspending the driver, stating that safety of customers is their priority and that they have zero tolerance for such acts.
We regret the unfortunate experience the customer had during their ride. We have zero tolerance to such incidents and the driver has been suspended from the platform as an immediate action upon receiving the complaint. We have also urged the customer to lodge a formal complaint with the authorities. Safety of customers is our priority and we will continue to extend our full support to this investigation against the said driver.Ola spokesperson
The victim outrightly expressed her concern about the rising number of incidents in which cab drivers misbehave with women. “I think people should be bold enough to report assault and misconduct. That is the only way out to ensure it does not happen again,” the 23-year-old fashion stylist said.
This incident adds to the number of recent incidents of Ola cab drivers harassing female passengers:
- In May, an Ola cab driver molested a 30-year-old professional singer in Bengaluru.
- A 38-year-old Ola cab driver in Mumbai, named Arun Matashankar Tiwari, was arrested for molesting a 31-year-old woman in August.
- In September, a 22-year-old Ola driver was accused of harassing a 25-year-old woman passenger in Hyderabad. The driver was identified as one K Shivakumar.
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