A couple who were travelling on Doddaballapur main road in Yelahanka, Bengaluru, were allegedly subject to road rage and assault by the driver of a Bengaluru Metropolitan Transport Corporation (BMTC). The couple have alleged they were the target of a brutal attack. “I have been living here for the last two decades and until recently, have never experienced any sort of racism towards myself nor my husband. How can a city public service bus company hire such violent, dangerous individuals?” asked Megan*, whose husband Vinay* was allegedly assaulted by the BMTC bus driver.
Vinay was riding a bike on the Doddaballapur Main Road in Yelahanka New Town, with Megan riding pillion. A BMTC city bus that was behind them began honking continuously for them to move out of the way. Vinay pulled aside and signalled the bus driver to go ahead. "When Vinay tried to pull over, the bus driver tried to run us over, pinning us between the bus and pavement," Megan said. Then the driver suddenly came out of the bus and began punching Vinay while allegedly shouting abuses at the couple and asking them to speak in Kannada. Megan is a North American citizen who has been living in India for the past 20 years. “The bus did not have any passengers aboard, but the driver was angry at us because it seemed like he was racing to the bus depot with another BMTC bus that was ahead of our bike,” said Vinay.
The couple also alleged that the driver smashed Vinay's phone to the ground while hitting Vinay with a rock multiple times on the sidewalk, and broke the phone. The bus driver then snatched the keys to Vinay’s bike and his phone and ran back into the bus, forcing the couple to go behind him. When they entered the bus, the driver locked the doors behind them and continued the assault on Vinay, according to Megan. A video recording of the incident shows Vinay being assaulted. “I managed to record a part of it because I thought he was going to kill us with the bus doors closed,” recalled Megan.
Visuals of the attack
Megan said the driver began driving the bus with the couple still held hostage inside the bus along with a few other passersby who got on to the bus to stop the assault. “After a traumatic drive, he pulled the bus into the local bus depot. A female supervisor who started speaking extremely aggressively to us, without even knowing what had happened, refused to help us even though she saw that we were in so much distress and didn’t at any point help us get to a hospital. It was only when I started recording her that she nervously handed back Vinay’s phone,” Megan alleged.
The assault left Vinay with a bleeding ear, dislocated knee and a fractured rib. "Vinay’s anterior cruciate ligaments are completely torn in his left knee and he now requires reconstructive surgery and 4-6 weeks of physiotherapy after the surgery," Megan said. The Yelahanka New Town police have registered a case against the driver based on a complaint by Vinay.
(Names have been changed to protect the identity of the persons.)