Woman scribe faces harassment during late-night cab ride

Cab aggregator suspends erring driver; police chief assures strict action

NT Correspondent

Bengaluru: In a recent incident that came to light, a Bengalurubased female passenger claimed that a cab driver allegedly misbehaved with her while she was taking a ride back home.

The passenger, a journalist by profession, claimed that it happened late Friday, when she was returning home after work in an Ola cab. Taking to Social media, she claimed that the driver allegedly m*****bated while she was in the car, assuming ‘that she had not noticed what he was doing.’

“In a city that I call home, it made me feel extremely unsafe today.” she wrote on her social media post. “Tonight my city failed me. Scarred me once again with public molestation,” she added.

She somehow mustered courage and shouted, and made the driver stop the cab. “As soon as I noticed, he closed the dhoti he was wearing and pretended nothing was wrong. With the little courage I had, I screamed, shouted, and banged on the car windows to make him stop the cab. Unfortunately, I was in the middle of a dark street.He stopped and drove off,” she explained.

She also said that she couldn’t use the emergency contact number at that moment. “When you’re put in a situation like that, sometimes you don’t think. You just want it to stop and get away from the situation,” she said.

However, the woman also said that Ola has assured her that the driver has been suspended and a complaint will be filed against him.

Responding to the woman’s post, Bengaluru Police Commissioner Kamal Pant apologized and stated, “We are sorry to hear about this. Your complaint is duly noted and a team has already been put on the job by DCP Central to secure the culprit. This will also be taken up with Ola cabs for appropriate action at their end,” he assured.

Over the past few years, ride hailing services such as Ola and Uber have drawn flak regarding women’s safety, as several cases of harassment and rape, have been reported.