Fashion designer reports threats, porn on FB

A 25-year-old woman, who filed an abduction and assault case against a cab driver, is getting threat messages and pornographic content on Facebook.    

The victim, a fashion designer by profession, had lodged a complaint against the Uber cab driver on November 19 in Sudduguntepalaya police station.

The incident was reported on a local news channel, which not only revealed her identity by downloading pictures from her Facebook account, but also termed  her as "a drunk woman who had attempted to assault and rob the cab driver".

Following the news broadcast on the channel, the victim, a resident of Bilekahalli off Bannerghatta Road, complained that she is being  threatened on Facebook.  

Trapped in cab  

On  November 19, around 8.30 pm,  the  victim boarded an UberPOOL  cab, booked by her friend, from near Srinivas theatre in SG Palaya to go home.

"During the trip, it seemed the driver was talking over the phone with someone, asking him to come to Adugodi. Moreover, he did not take the usual  route to  my drop location," her complaint stated.

Anxious over the  change in the route, she told the driver her house was in the opposite direction. To this, he said a customer was waiting to be picked at Adugodi, she said.

He  again started talking over his phone and addressed the listener as 'macha' (a Tamil slang word for friend), and asked him to get to  Adugodi quickly.

"I had a bad  feeling that something was not right and that the driver's intentions were  not good. So, I told him to stop the car. To my shock, he did not stop and grinned at me, saying he cannot cancel the trip. At the same time,  I heard the car's central locking system click and all the doors were locked," she told DH.

She tried to pull the handbrake, but the driver shoved her away. When she tried to pull the keys out, the driver assaulted her, the police said.  

She kept screaming and fighting him until he stopped the vehicle. However, he managed to escape. She rushed to the nearby station, only to be informed that women cannot be in the police station after 6 pm, and was told to come back the following morning to file  a  complaint.

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Cabbie files counter complaint

The next morning when the victim went to the police station, the cab driver was already there and had registered a complaint against her. He  was accompanied by several  others, who claimed to be from the drivers' union in the area and were forcing the police to take up a complaint against the woman.

The police, for their part, registered an FIR against  the driver, and accepted his  counter complaint.

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Uber's statement

"The driver partner's access to the app has been suspended. We will extend full support to the law enforcement authorities in any way possible," an Uber spokesperson said.