Bengaluru: With doors locked, Ola cabbie forced woman to smoke

Bengaluru: While the city continues to grapple with the issue of women’s safety on the streets, the horror tales of misbehaviour by drivers attached to private app-based cabs continue to haunt women commuters.

A city-based woman commuter was on Monday night allegedly harassed by an Ola Cab driver, who asked her uncomfortable questions, including whether she was a housewife or a working woman, whether she drank or smoked, and what she was doing out late in the night.

The driver refused to take her home, missed a few turns, locked her inside the car and bought two cigarettes, forcing her to smoke one.

Kriti (name changed), a lawyer and a resident of North Bengaluru, had a torrid time riding the cab from Vittal Malaya Road to Hebbal around 9 pm. She told Deccan Chronicle, “I have lived all my life in this city and have never felt as unsafe and as threatened as I was on Monday night. It's the worst kind of fear when you start thinking that you will never reach home and something horrendous is going to happen. The ride started out as any and the non-intrusive driver was busy minding the road. But the situation turned suddenly worse when we reached the Hebbal flyover. Instead of going straight towards Kodigehalli, the driver turned left towards Outer Ring Road. But it didn't set off any red flags as it is common to take the ORR route and turn towards Kempapura near Nagawara.”

She said, “But I was shocked when the driver asked me, ‘Do you drink?’ He didn’t stop there. ‘Are you a housewife? How come you are out so late?’ He then said that he is only 25 years old and I can't be much older. I was beyond stumped. He missed two left turns and ultimately turned only at the signal when I threatened him that I would call my friends and inform the police. Scared as to what was happening, I messaged my mother (who was not in town) and a friend and sent them the cab details.”

By the time Kriti could do something, the driver abruptly stopped the car near Mariampalya, and allegedly locked her inside. “When I was telling him that I really needed to get home, he locked the car and stepped out to buy two cigarettes. He came with two cigarettes and told me to smoke one fully. I kept the cigarette in my hand and gave him directions and finally, when I reached my house, I asked him to stop but he drove a little ahead. As I got down, he told me to give him five stars. I was shocked and scared and gave in, as it meant end of that ride for me. Then he demanded that I give him my number. As the street was empty and no one was around to come to my rescue, I entered an old number and a fake name and thought that was the end of it. But early on Tuesday morning, I received a WhatsApp message from the driver on the number I booked the cab from,” she said.

Company promises action against driver
When Kriti took up the issue with Ola, the spokesperson who initially gave a lukewarm response to the complainant later assured Kriti that the company would take a serious note of her complaint and suspend the driver. A Ola spokesperson told her, “We regret the inconvenience caused to you. Our safety team will suspend the driver and will reach out to you immediately.”

“The first thing a woman commuter should do is approach the nearest police station and file a complaint against the driver. As once the police register a report on harassment or misbehaviour, the transport department will impound the DL and take strict action against the offender. It is a must that a police complaint is filed in order to punish the offender,” said Mr J. Gnanendra Kumar, Joint Commissioner for Transport (Bangalore Urban)