New Delhi:
In yet another case of verbal harassment, a Bengaluru-based girl was abused and threatened by an Uber driver after the former denied to cancel the trip she booked from her home to college.
In the audio recording of the telephonic conversation between the girl and the driver, exclusively available with News Nation, the driver (listed as Raghavendra in the Uber app) can be heard abusing the girl and saying “tum Musalman saare aise hi hote ho, pata nahi kidhar kidhar se aa ke idhar ke ghoomte ho (all you Muslims are like that only, don’t know from where you all come and roam here).”
The girl, who spoke to News Nation on the condition of anonymity, narrated the entire incident and said that she was afraid as the cab driver knew her address.
The girl – a law student – booked the cab from her home in Annapurneshwari Nagar to her college in M Vishweshwaraiah Block at 8.40 AM on Thursday.
According to her, the UberAuto driver was late in arriving at her location and also the map in the app showed him arriving way ahead from the specified location. Getting late for college, she decided to take an auto off-road.
The driver called the girl and asked her to cancel the ride to which she denied. Instead, she asked the driver to cancel the ride as it was his fault that he arrived late and at the wrong location.
On this, Raghavendra started hurling abuses at the girl and her religion and then hung up the call.
Petrified with the threatening, the girl complained against the driver to Uber.
“After I reached my college, this person calls me up saying that he is on my location and I should cancel it. To which I contested that it was not my fault and rather he should cancel it. He stared quarrelling over this and when I did not agree, he abused me and went on my religion. His very words were "Tere baap ka hai kya? Tum muslaman Saare ashehi hote ho." and not once, not twice, he said this multiple times and fortunely I also have the recording of it,” read her Facebook post.
“I feel unsafe travelling alone in Uber now, he knows my house and number. I have the fear of being ridiculed and harrassed again. Please tell me Uber as to why i am targted for my religion and gender just for booking my ride to college?” she wrote.
The girl tagged Uber, Karnataka Police and the Karnataka unit of Indian National Congress, but is yet to get a response from any of the authorities.
Uber responded to the post shared by the girl's cousin and wrote: "This is concerning. Can you please share your registered mobile number via Direct Message? A member of our safety team will get in touch at the earliest."
This isn't the first time an Uber driver has shown misconduct towards a female passenger. There have been numerous cases reported of women being molested or being talked back rudely to while riding an Uber.
Last month, a Delhi-based journalist experienced lewd comments and misbehaviour from the Uber driver, while she and her husband were travelling in his cab.
“Rude and creepy driver. I demand action. First, he refused to turn on the air conditioner, then says garmi lag rahi hai to aage mere godi me baith jao [If you are feeling hot then come and sit on my lap]. He also ended the trip, moments after starting to drive and forced me out. This is when I was with husband,” she had tweeted.
In March 2018, a 33-year-old arrested for reportedly misbehaving with two women customers – both IT professionals. The driver allegedly threw women's bags out and also held one of them by her shirt's collar.
