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Day after gang rape of passenger, Karnataka govt considers taking action against aggregator
The transport department officials on Wednesday said they are looking at the legal options against Bike taxi aggregator Rapido, which they claim has been operating without a licence
The transport department officials on Wednesday said they are looking at the legal options against Bike taxi aggregator Rapido, which they claim has been operating without a licence. The service, which is popular in Bengaluru due to its low cost, is in news again after a rider attached to the app was held for raping a passenger.
A 22-year-old woman was allegedly raped by a bike taxi driver and his friend, when she had hired the service to get dropped at a friend’s place, police said on Tuesday. They said the incident is said to have taken place during the intervening night between Friday and Saturday, in the Electronic City Police Station limits. According to a police source, the victim is from Kerala.
“The woman had hired a ‘Rapido’ bike to go from one friend’s house to another. On the way, the bike driver took advantage and has taken her to his place, where he along with his friend raped her. There was another woman along with them during the crime, who cooperated and then tried to hush it up,” Bengaluru Police Commissioner Pratap Reddy said.
He said, as the victim was suffering from pain in her body parts, she visited doctors for medical help on November 26 afternoon, following which the police got the information about the incident that evening. “Police immediately registered an FIR and swung into action and have arrested all the accused.
Even though the service is operating without a licence, a senior transport department official said it was taking action against firms as they have challenged the Karnataka On-Demand Transport Technology Aggregators’ Rules, 2016, in the high court. “The high court has directed us to hold meetings with the companies and resolve the issue. We were in talks with them,” the officer said.
He added that with the incident coming rape incident coming to light, the department is considering whether it should contest the stay issued by the High Court based on the plea submitted by the aggregator apps. “We will look into the matter closely,” the official added.
Bengaluru police commissioner CH Pratap Reddy said senior police officers had convened a meeting with Rapido officials 10 days ago when they had explained to them the importance of conducting riders’ background checks. “We will issue further instructions on conducting background checks on the riders,” he said.
During the investigation, it was found that the prime suspect in the case Shahabuddin was arrested by Bannerghatta police for thrashing his neighbour over a water issue. The fight took place a few months ago and the accused was booked under IPC sections 324 (voluntarily causing hurt with dangerous weapons), 341 (wrongful restraint) and 506 (criminal intimidation).
His partner in crime Arafat Sharif and six others were arrested on dacoity-preparation charges this year. However, the accused rider’s criminal antecedents were not noticed or checked by Rapido staffers, police said.
Rapido, in a statement, a spokesperson that the accused driver has been removed from the platform. “Rapido strongly condemns the action of one of the riders registered on our platform who was booked by the police for assaulting a lady and deeply apologises to the victim who had to undergo such an unfortunate ordeal,” a spokesperson said in a statement.
“We have extended all help to the police and assisted in apprehending the accused. Rapido will continue to extend its full support to the police in their investigation of this case. Rapido has a customer-first policy and we wish to stress the fact that their security and safety are of the utmost priority,” the statement added.
