Blow for US-based company’s expansion plans in India.
By The American Bazaar Staff
NEW DELHI: The Delhi government has banned the popular US-based international app based cab service company Uber, following the arrest of a driver who raped a 25-year-old financial services executive working for a multinational company, this past Friday.
The incident reportedly happened on Friday night when the victim was on her way back home after having dinner with friends. The victim alleges that she fell asleep inside the Uber cab she called, and the driver took the car to a secluded place, and raped her with dire threats, including that he would kill her if she informed the police.
The driver later dropped the woman near her house, before speeding off. The victim, however, took a photo of the car’s license plate number, and contacted the police. The driver after abandoning the taxi, fled to Mathura in Uttar Pradesh. He was later arrested by the police, within an hour of authorities placing a reward of Rs. 1 lakh on him.
A FIR was filed against the 32-year-old Uber cab driver Shiv Kumar Yadav and a medical examination was conducted on the victim, which corroborated her statement to the police.
According to the Additional DCP, Southeast Delhi, Yadav wouldn’t have driven the car if Uber had done a thorough background check on him or if the police had done a detailed verification, as he was acquitted in a 2011 rape case.
Delhi Special Commissioner Deepak Mishra said, “Our initial investigations have revealed shortcomings of the private cab company which didn’t have GPS installed in its cabs and the staff wasn’t verified.â€
In response to growing agitations, the Delhi government has now banned the entire Uber taxi service alleging them of providing wrong information to commuters.
According to the press release on the ban, “the said All India Tourist Permit taxi was provided by M/s. Uber on the request of the commuter through the Uber Web application for a local journey within Delhi which was in contravention of the MV Act, 1988 and rules framed there under. M/s Uber also misled the commuter about the nature of the taxi service offered by the “Uber Appâ€.
The Delhi Transport Department said that “they have cancelled the said permit of the taxi, Registration Certificate of the said taxi and Driving License of the said driver. The Permit was granted on 28th May, 2014 after due verification of character and antecedents of the permit holder.â€
Travis Kalanick, the CEO of Uber said in a statement: “What happened over the weekend in New Delhi is horrific. Our entire team’s hearts go out to the victim of this despicable crime. We will do everything, I repeat, everything to help bring this perpetrator to justice and to support the victim and her family in her recovery.â€
The rape incident comes only days before the second anniversary of the infamous Nirbhaya gang rape case where a student died after was sexually assaulted and victimized by a group of men inside a moving bus, in December, 2012.
After the government’s ban of Uber, a few Uber Cab drivers in Delhi received a SMS, reassuring that the company will be back in business soon. The message read: “Dear Partner. We know that this is a difficult time, but we must cooperate. UBER has always supported you. UBER Company is not going anywhere. Please don’t pay heed to what anyone says and take a wrong decision — Yours UBER DELHI.â€
Uber has not yet clarified the source of this message.