Woman alleges sexual harassment by Uber driver in Mumbai

A woman travelling in an Uber cab in Mumbai on Friday morning has accused the driver of sexually harassing her. According to the woman Roopa (name changed to protect her identity), she booked an Uber cab on Friday morning and when they were in Andheri East of Mumbai at around 10.45 am, the driver unzipped himself and started behaving extremely indecently.

According to the woman, the driver was 'masturbating' in public while the cab was at a traffic signal.

"I immediately got out of the car and asked him to stop the fare immediately. He walked out of the car abusing and asking what happened, to which I said don't you know what happened or do you want me to scream and let everyone know what you did," she said.

The driver allegedly came towards Roopa in a threatening manner, demanding the fare and cornered her. The complainant claims that there was no traffic police personnel on the road and she was fighting and arguing with the drive alone, with the public watching.

Asking the driver to step back, she then asked for the cab fare. There were several cabs that stopped on their way and the driver, perhaps realising that several people were watching, did not do anything and told her the fare amount.

"I paid him more than the fare amount and did not stop to take back the change as I found him to be very dangerous. I would like to report this complaint as a very serious incident to Uber and will also file an FIR today," she added.

She further said that she then emailed Uber but the mail was not delivered. "I request Uber to kindly dismiss his license and stop him from serving anyone. I felt unsafe in my own city, in a busy traffic area with people watching the commotion and nobody really coming to help. As I fought him alone, I realize he could be a life-threatening piece of s*** to many women around. And am glad I was not embarrassed and was able to come out of the cab and make a lot of noise for my own safety," she said.

"My husband was on the phone call at the same time with me and started panicking hearing my commotion. He asked me to shout and call for help or handle the guy well myself (which he was damn sure I have it in me to do) I did handle it alone with NO help. I even warned the guy and told him one more step ahead towards me and I won't hesitate to show him what I am made of. He backed off right there. I realized instead of fighting with him and upon seeing his aggressive behavior I asked for the bill and made the payment and had to take an auto for the rest of my journey. 

"Anything could have happened to me today, had I not had the presence of mind to walk out of the car when it halted. This is an extremely serious incident in light of the many Uber incidents coming to light. You guys need to either shut your company or act NOW!," she added.

Uber, meanwhile, has said that immediate action was taken against the driver after the incident came to light. "What’s been described has no place on our app. Our community guidelines clearly reject such inappropriate behaviour. Upon learning about the incident, we immediately removed the driver partner’s access to the app," an Uber spokesperson said.

(Have you faced such a situation while using a cab? Please share your experience. Zeenews.com will protect your identity. Send the details on onlineenglish@zeemedia.esselgroup.com)