BENGALURU:In the second such incident in about a week, a cab driver allegedly misbehaved with a woman on Saturday. Following the incident, the driver was barred from accepting rides by the cab aggregator. The woman works in the sales sector in Singapore and was on a visit to India.
The driver, however, has denied the woman’s allegations. He said she was making false claims because she was annoyed that he had not driven through NICE Road, and as a result, the trip had taken longer.
On Saturday evening, an Ola share cab was booked for the woman by her friend Kabya Basu, and she boarded the cab at Hoodi. The woman said she sat next to the driver and two more passengers got into the cab later. “About 2-3 times, while searching for something in the glove compartment, his hand brushed against my thigh. When I asked him what he wanted, he claimed he had a headache and was looking for a pill,” the woman claimed.
She says she asked him to take the road through Electronics City, but was told that since it was a toll road, he could not go that way. Close her destination Rajarajeshwari Hospital on Mysore Road, she asked him to turn down the air-conditioner. “The driver then held my hand and asked me where I was feeling cold,” she said. She asked him to stop the cab right there and got out on some pretext.
The next day, on Sunday, Kabya Basu tweeted about the incident, which was followed by a response from Ola saying, “We are appalled to hear about this experience. Your safety is our primary concern. We have suspended the driver and our safety team will reach out to you immediately.”
The driver, however, claimed he had never held the woman’s hand. He said the woman argued with him to go through NICE road, but he could not do so as it was a toll road. He said the sling of the woman’s handbag was around the gear knob. “I removed the sling and placed the bag on her lap, albeit a little roughly. But I did not touch her in an inappropriate way,” the driver said.
Basu also posted a description of the incident on Facebook in which he tagged both Bengaluru City Police and Bengaluru Traffic Police. On Monday morning, Bengaluru Traffic Police’s Facebook posted a response to Basu’s post in which they asked him to lodge a written complaint at the nearest law-and-order police station.The woman has opted not to file a police complaint as she will return to Singapore soon.
Another passenger shares ordeal on FB
Bengaluru: In a separate incident, a driver of an autorickshaw aggregator firm allegedly threatened a female passenger. As per a post on Facebook, the driver was rude to the passenger and her male friend from the beginning of the ride. The passenger felt uncomfortable during the ride and asked the driver to stop, but he did not. After the ride, when the passengers began to walk away as they had made payment by the Ola Money wallet, the driver still asked for cash and allegedly tried to attack them. The post states that it was only due to public’s intervention that he could not do so. When some passersby advised the passengers to lodge a complaint, the driver threatened them that he had their contact number, and if needed, he would find their address and reach their home.