A woman in Delhi was raped on Friday allegedly by a taxi driver who is now missing. - - - The woman in her complaint said that after getting into the cab last night, she fell asleep and woke up to find the car parked at a secluded spot. The driver then allegedly raped her. She told the police that the driver then dropped her near her home in north Delhi after threatening to kill her if she spoke of the matter to anybody. "The woman clicked a photograph of the car's number plate and then made a PCR call to report the incident," a police officer said.
When an Uber driver is requested via its app, the user is shown a photo of the driver along with his phone number when he is en route. In this case, the suspect's phone was allegedly not registered in his own name. Uber uses GPS installed on drivers' phones to track their locations, but the driver had switched off his phone.
For the full text of the NDTV report, click here.
With the fare charged by the new-age cabs becoming comparable to what is charged by the auto, one had begun to patronise them more and more in place of the auto. And, as for the women folk, the additional incentive were the safety aspects, in the belief that they had fool-proof driver back-ground check as also vehicle tracking systems in place. This unfortunate incident has exposed the gaps, and thereby lowered their credibility. One, however, hopes that the lessons have been learned, and that the systems will be revamped to ensure that such mishaps do not recurr in future.
Going by the report "the woman clicked a photograph of the car's number plate and then made a PCR call to report the incident". Now, supposing the woman had taken the picture before boarding the cab, and in full view of the driver (and may be "watsapped" it to her next of kin), one can perhaps be reasonably sure that the driver wouldn't have dared to do what he did.
As such, perhaps that's what all women need to do in future. And, in order that the driver lot do not take offence to the practice, perhaps the city Police Commissioner can issue a formal open statement advising women passengers to do so, may be citing the Delhi incident.
Either way, I am going to be suggesting to the women folk in my family to adopt the practice right away, and if a driver takes offence, to say thank you and walk away.
Muralidhar Rao
Forward this Blog entry
Comments
cabs still a far safer option
CABS STILL A FAR SAFER OPTION
I beleive no matter how many safeguards one may want to put in writing,in law or by means of orders/training, and both are indeed very necessary and desirable, ultimately crime is committed by a person with criminal intent. That is the bottom line. If more and more people are taking undue advantage of the system or of a particular situation that places a person, particularly women in a vulnerable position, then it is both a failure of the system as well as that of the individuals who believe that they will/can get away unchallenged and unscathed. This means there is little emphasis on both implementation and enforcement of the rules and laws on one side but we as individuals also carry a certain responsibility. Clearly therefore the onus of changing this situation lies both on the enforcement agency as well as on the individual attitudes. While it is easy to find a scapegoat quoting one violation among a myriad of rules that one may not even be aware of because he has got the permit under some influence, the problem can not be remedied merely by changing rules or making public statements and street shows. It is a tough call to change the mindset of people long used to 'fixing' work, but a start has to be made somewhere and that somewhere is here and the time is now. Policy making and implementation structure needs a complete look over. It also can not happen if left only to bureaucrats and police or any department, unless there is a cooperation and active participation by simple people like you and me. As a start, we as users also have a responsibilty that we (particularly ladies) unwittingly dont get into a situation whereby we become vulnerable. Changing lfestyles in urban areas particularly of those who have access and means to adopting hues of western culture have unfortunately not addressed the plane truth that those who provide us services, generally are at a different level of transition and are not fully in sync - not yet, with the fast changing cultural scene in metros.
But there may also lie an opportunity here for the young unemployed, not so well academically conversed women to learn driving and perhaps the state can encourage and promote through a special programme setting up a 'Ladies Driven' cab service as an enterprise to cater to the millions of ladies working in service sector establishments. Driving is not a skill that requires any extraordinary abilities or academic qualifications beyond basics, and perhaps the state can engage with IT/ ITES/Financial institutions and other companies to patronise such enterprises in all metro cities for use by their female staff. Such a service could also be available 'on call' by unaccompanied ladies in any situation.
IS THE DEPARTMENT/MINISTRY LOOKING AFTER WOMENS' RIGHTS AND EMPOERMENT LISTENING ?
But as an introspective exercise, if a lady is partying hard till late evening and then goes to sleep in a car whose driver she has never known and is a complete stranger, is not what an alert person would do, even if the stringest of rules and laws are in place. A crime has been committed by an errant individual, he has betrayed the trust of a person and this deviant behaviour is inexcusable, deserves the stingest of punishments, the agency which has provided the srvice is also blameworthy, but these are all after the event comments/outrage. There is also a lesson to be learnt by all future users, particularly women.
The mistake Uber committed
Patches won't work!
Murali,
Just because Tata lend some help in passport services is not a measure of 100% success. Here is an report from ground on the reality.
http://www.deccanherald.com/content/447807/agony-continues.html
you can't have system that are designed to ration services? Which clearly means demand surpassing the supply, clear pathways to bribery, recommendations for out of turn favors. Not sure what did Tata helped MEA with? Rationing too?
a few thoughts
I think it is time to think differently. Cab companies need to examine the option of cabs driven by women taxi drivers along with an armed woman escort for use by women passengers. This could be one option made available for women who want to avail of this facility.
Having said that; safety of women is very much a socio cultural problem that has to be tackled at the grassroots level. Every country is it's share of issues; including the US for example which has a gun violence issue arising from the prevalent gun culture. Likewise, India has a women safety issue unlike what i have seen in my travels to developed countries like Canada, UK, Japan and even here in the US. In fact UK and US also don't come close to the overall safety levels in Japan where one could walk around and board the subway even in the heart of Tokyo at 10 or 11pm in the night. So, culturally, we Indians come way down in the list when it comes to treating fellow human beings (especially women) with respect and dignity, which has to change. Someone reading this refuses to believe that? Then please look around, and see how many incidents of harrasment and eve teasing go on.
MEA largely to blame
Transport Dept's posturings
Put Uber to good use
The best way to discipline the auto/ cab lot
the mafia fight-back
Taxi drivers at Mangalore International Airport (MIA) allegedly abused and threatened a woman passenger for booking an Ola Cab instead of hiring their taxi.
For the full text of the report in the New Indian Express, click here.
Notwithstanding the odd mishaps involving Uber cabs in Delhi, taxi aggregator services are largely seen as a welcome change compared to the earlier autorickshaw-taxi mafia regime, particularly by women and senior citizens. Simltaneously, it has also proved beneficial to those of the drivers who are prepared to put in that bit of extra effort, as also to the state in the form of the service tax accruing to it, which was not quite the case earlier.
In such a scenario, one would have expected the state to facilitate the aggregators in every possible way. On the other hand, what we see, is quite the opposite.
The reasons are not too far to seek. Very plainly, the auto-rickshaw/ taxi operators, so far, formed the vote banks of the local neta's, who led the whole mafia confederation controlling the entire regime, which often included even the RTO and the police lot. The aggregators coming into the picture has, on the other hand, brought in a regime of accountability, which is beginning to adversely affect the mafia operations, and hence the fight back. What is happening in Mangaluru, as such, is of a piece with what is happening in Delhi too, with AAP neta's there using every possible excuse to cancel the licenses of the aggregators, so as to benefit the auto-rickshaw lot. To Bengaluru's credit, it may be stated, that it's evolving now, even if slowly, with the mafioso beginning to realise that their game cannot carry on for too long.
Moral of the story plainly is that it's time the political leadership realised that the days of neta-giri, through mafia operations, are more or less over, and if they don't change their ways in tune with the times, they may find themselves in the doldrums.