Woman accuses Uber driver of masturbating during ride, gets him fired
The woman accused the driver of sexual harassment and complained to Uber about his behaviour (Representational Image, Courtesy: The News Minute)
A female commuter accused her Uber driver of sexual harassment after she caught him masturbating during the ride through Mumbai’s Andheri area on Friday morning.
The commuter had booked an Uber cab today morning. Around 10:45 am, when the cab (MH 03 CH 1124) was passing through Andheri East, the driver unzipped his pant and started masturbating while the car was stationary 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 in her letter to the police.
The driver allegedly approached the commuter in a threatening manner and demanded the fare. The complainant further claimed that there was no traffic policeman at the spot and bystanders simply stood and watched.
She later asked the driver to step back and enquired about the fare. The driver, realising that the crowd was gathering, told her the fare amount without getting into further altercation.
“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.
The woman has demanded the cancellation of the driver’s license to ensure that he does not serve anyone in the future.
“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.
The lady later sent a mail to Uber highlighting the incident, following which Uber said that immediate action was taken against the driver.
“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.
The spokesperson added that the driver’s past record was clean, with no previous complaints of any kind against him.
In a similar incident, an Uber driver was arrested for masturbating while a woman passenger was seated in his cab in Delhi’s Janpath area last month.
