‘Women need to be empowered’, ‘Say no to discrimination’ etc. are common phrases we usually come across these days. The social media and news platforms celebrate and glorify incidents where women are the heroes. They do not hesitate in exposing the atrocities that still prevail against women. However, why can’t there be a situation where women are not considered vulnerable? Anyone attacking another person, irrespective of gender, should have a fear of getting prosecuted. Aveta Thampatty, an ‘empowered woman’, faced an incident in Kochi two days ago. It all started when Avetta hired an Ola cab. She paid for her ride through the e-wallet facility. However, the driver, who explained this as an offence, started abusing her and when she reacted, slapped her.
On her Facebook page, Aveta says, “Some people think it is ok to abuse verbally; some even go to the extent of physically assaulting you. For this to stop we need to stand up to these abusers. You become a victim when abusers think you won't fight back. I was once afraid to stand up; I was afraid of retaliation and retribution. But not anymore. I have come to the point where I firmly believe we need to stand up to these abusers, to see them in disbelief, to see them learn a lesson, so that they would never dare to repeat. The Kerala police are actively probing the incident, and the cab driver has been identified. To all my friends, once again thanks a lot for all your support (sic).”
She added that after a bit of enquiry she came to know this is common with OLA cabs. They don't accept OLA money and either cancel the rides or in some cases act like this. Stating what she said is true to an extent, an Ola cab driver who wishes to remain anonymous, says, “The company to an extent is cheating us because when the passengers pay through ‘Ola money’, the fund does not reach our accounts directly. The company levies many charges on the amount and we mostly only get half of it. They do not even give us a clear idea as to what charges are being deducted. But many of us still accept these rides. All drivers should not be typecast for what one did.”
Ola promptly sacked the erring driver, but the matter of concern is whether only women are victims in such cases. Or are such cases being reported against men also? A similar incident happened in Thiruvananthapuram last month where an Uber driver misbehaved with a lady working in Technopark. The woman, unlike Aveta, was hesitant to react and therefore Prathidhwani, the socio-cultural organisation of Technopark employees, filed a complaint against the driver who was identified and later suspended.
Rajeev Krishnan, secretary of Prathidhwani, says, “We came to know this from the lady’s friend and when we approached her she said that filing a complaint will make things worse for her at home and she was not willing to do it herself. However, we took this up and the police officials too helped us.” Both Aveta and Rajeev say that such cases against men are negligible. A majority of such incidents against women go unreported as women are afraid of the trauma they have to go through.
We also contacted Uber’s spokesperson, who, in addition to apologising for the incident, said the safety of riders is paramount for the company. If any such incidents are reported, the company takes strict action including moving legally against the driver.
However, according to the police officials, these drivers are given a police verification certificate from their concerned police stations, which cannot always be right as they may have a case elsewhere.
This also reflects official apathy and carelessness, which, if not there, can curb such incidents.
Police blame it on women
S. Dwijesh, S.I., South police station, says the driver has been identified but is absconding. When asked if such cases happen with men, he says, “Most of the cases are reported and the ones we get to hear of are those against women. It is maybe because they think women will not react. If it was a man in this case, the driver would definitely have a fear of being hit back. However, it commendable that women are coming up against what they feel is wrong. But I have also noticed that women who hire cabs after 8 p.m., if are dressed in modern attire, sit in the co-driver's seat and talk to the drivers, are misinterpreted and the drivers can also feel tempted. Therefore, women as a precautionary method, should avoid this.”
