'He threatened to tear my clothes’: B’luru woman accuses Uber driver of misbehaviour

In another untoward incident involving app-hailed cabs in Bengaluru, a woman was left stranded alone on Saturday night after the driver of an Uber cab allegedly threatened her with sexual assault and left her abandoned in a “not so busy” road. In an elaborate post on social media, Chetna* narrated her ordeal and even claimed that the Uber Support team was of not much help.

“Today, I had the most traumatizing experience of my life. I got into an Uber cab after dinner with my colleagues. The cab driver was telling his friend on phone about customers being ‘very bad’. Suddenly, he turned to me and told me that as an educated woman I should leave work before 7 pm and not go out drinking with colleagues. I told him I didn't drink and asked him to mind his own business. He went on to call me “slut” and also to say things like I can't even be his keep who cleans his shoes (sic),” the woman wrote in a post on social media.

According to her post, at this point of time, the driver, Sunil Kumar PS, slowed down the cab and she got “extremely scared’. This prompted her to press the “safety button” on the Uber app. 

She wrote, ‘Instead of calling me, they called the cab driver and, he started telling the customer care person that ‘I am extremely drunk’. At this point, I had no choice but to start screaming asking the customer care to listen to me. The woman on the call spoke to me and I cried begging her to help me. She told me to get out of the cab and that she will book me another one immediately. Meanwhile, this cab driver started threatening me with things like ‘I will tear your clothes if you don't leave the cab now’ (sic).” 

The woman added that she kept messaging the Uber Support Team for another cab but at that point, the app was of no help and she eventually had to call her friends for help.

She added, “As I got down at 11.15 in the night at a not so busy road, I was waiting for a call from the customer care and also for my backup cab. I was terrified that the cab driver would come back to hit me. After waiting for 15 minutes and desperately writing messages to the Uber Customer Care, I received no support and I had to call my friends to help me.” 

TNM reached out to Uber regarding the incident and the company said that the driver has been barred from accessing its platform pending an investigation.

“What’s been described is unacceptable and violates our community guidelines. We have been in touch with the rider, and driver partner’s access to the app has been suspended until further investigation,” an Uber spokesperson told TNM.

*Name changed to protect woman’s identity