mid-day editorial: Stop driving fear into women commuters

An Ola Share ride turned out to be a cab rise from hell for a Matunga woman who was confined to the car and attacked by the driver and her male co-passenger. All this because she had requested to be dropped at her office gate instead of the complex gate. Instead, the driver and co-passenger locked her inside and took her to another destination, only letting her out after 10 minutes of abuse and assault.

The driver has been arrested after the police complaint, but it is shocking that this incident even occurred, leaving the woman completely helpless. This demonstrates why every cab must have an alarm button connected to the taxi
service's office, for the safety of the passenger.

The cab company says they are co-operating with the investigation and the driver has been removed from service. But this is little comfort to the woman, whose address and contact details are both with the driver. This is a real concern among women passengers, as the drivers learn where they live and other details.

The dispute could have been resolved in a civil way. If the driver did not want to drop her, he should have opened the doors and told her to step out. One simply cannot justify what the driver and co-passenger did. The cabbie could have also called his office to report the problem, or taken the cab to the police station. Whatever the matter, locking up passengers, abusing and assaulting them is a crime, and needs to be treated as such.

All aggregators need to take a second look at safety parameters for their passengers and set a precedent with strict, non-negotiable action to send a message that there is a zero tolerance policy for such goondaism.

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