Delhi: Ola terminates Cabbie after a female passenger’s post on the driver recording her hits the internet

Priyanka Gusain, a 24 year-old designer boarded an Ola cab on a usual weekday afternoon in Delhi and in no time, she had to encounter an awful experience. The moment she got into the cab and began checking her phone, she realized something odd. Without her knowledge, she was being recorded by the cab driver named Abhilash Singh. Without giving it a second thought, she alerted the police and filed an FIR against the cab driver.

On July 10, around 12:45 pm, Priyanka booked an Ola cab and boarded it from Chanakyapuri. She got caught up in checking mails and attending her phone calls when out of the blue she noticed the driver relentlessly looking at her through the rear-view mirror which made her feel uneasy. Nonetheless, she overlooked the situation.

But soon, she became aware of the man filming her when she realized his camera was pointed at her. Near Moti Bagh in South Delhi, she “caught” him recording her. The cab driver was asked to stop the car near the Café Coffee Day outlet in Taj Palace in Dhaula Khan where luckily, she was familiar with the guards.

The area where Gusain asked the driver to pull over the car has got regular police cars patrolling. Without wasting any time, she dialed 100 and a PCR van with female cops fortunately responded.

“Singh had been recording Gusain's movements inside the taxi for over three minutes, for which an FIR was registered at the RK Puram Police Station, she told International Business Times India.

On the other hand, the words of the police officers made her feel more uncomfortable as they said that the video was unclear and as it is a bailable offence, the driver would be out of jail in a little while. Gusain felt anxious after heeding to that statement.

The driver could sense trouble and therefore, made an apology to her and also touched her feet begging for forgiveness. He mentioned that it was his first-time offence.

But Priyanka just didn’t leave the whole situation and let it go in vain which is why she registered a complaint with Ola through their app. She also took the medium of Facebook to post her experience of the terrible incident and shared how unsafe she felt.

Apparently, just after the grievance received by the company, the app-based taxi service contacted Gusain and informed her that the driver was being terminated and will no further be able to work for the organization. Also, she was being introduced to the SOS option on the app and was thoroughly explained about how it connects the passenger with the company straight away.

The cab company wrote to Priyanka on Monday night, "Hi Priyanka, we believe our Safety team had contacted you to update the actions taken. The driver partner has been terminated from our platform to ensure such experience by any of our customers is avoided."

Just before Gusain was informed about the happenings regarding the complaint filed by her, a woman expressed her apprehension in her Facebook post about this driver trying to operate the same with some other woman.

“The driver is probably out right now, driving some girl somewhere and violating her in ways the law does not seem to recognise," Gusain said.

Gusain’s post went viral where a lot of people commented on the post sharing their own issues and experiences with the cab service. If someone cited the problems he came upon in Amritsar, the others would mention their phones being stolen and cab drivers cancelling rides which made them to opt out for different service providers. Another shifted from the previous service provider to other for facing discriminatory behavior as he hailed from North-East.

“I was once Humiliated and discriminated by your People in Dwarka sector 9 metro station because I am from North East. He pulled me out from the bus and did not allow me to board the Bus. The guy was very rude and abusive and when I asked his name he did not give and in return he said do whatever you want to do. He had 3 more guys along with him who were trying to fight with me but I tried to take his photo but he ran away. Ola Bus Shuttle is the worst service. Your service is not safe for the people," he said.

By Monalisa Mahanta

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