The rape of a 27-year-old woman executive of an MNC by an Uber cab driver in north Delhi on Friday night has put the spotlight on this international cab booking company. Its services have been hit. The Delhi Police has put Uber on notice. Its vetting policy has been questioned. And its international record is under scrutiny. At least one incident of rape of a passenger by an Uber cab driver was reported in the United States.
In December 2012, a woman in Washington DC took an Uber cab home. She arrived at her doorstep around 3 am. The home security camera showed her walking towards her house. Then it showed her walking back to the cab. The camera captured next the driver hitting her on the head, taking her behind the garage, and raping her.
Following this, "The New Yorker's Matt Buchanan spoke to a few Uber drivers about their signing contracts with Uber and going through the training program during a promotion in Austin for SXSW. One said it takes "like five minutes," while another said it was "just filling out forms," wrote a blogger on motherboard.vice.in. "If anything, the added scrutiny (after the rape) reveals how Uber's careful vetting process isn't really that careful."
Uber was not charged with any wrongdoing in the DC rape case though The Washington Post reported, "The connection to the popular Uber service put the alleged attack in the spotlight…"
Driver Shiv Kumar Yadav, who committed the rape and fled Delhi, has been arrested. "He was arrested on Sunday evening, and will be produced in court tomorrow (Monday)," DCP (North) Madhur Verma told media. Delhi Police spokesperson Rajan Bhagat said a Delhi Police team arrested the 32-year-old Yadav from Mathura, soon after the police announced a reward of Rs1 lakh for information leading to his arrest.
But while the police can claim credit, Uber has taken a hit in more ways than one. People are now wary of asking Uber for a cab, especially women. Many of them have been quoted on TV news channels saying they were scared to get into cabs booked from companies like Uber. The situation for Uber is bound to get worse by the day for as long as the rape remains in the news. Calls to high-end hotels, enquiring if Uber cabs were being booked for guests elicited no responses.
"Our thoughts are with the victim of this terrible crime and we are working with the police as they investigate. We will assist them in any way we can. It is also our policy to immediately suspend a driver's account following allegations of a serious incident, which we have done," Evelyn Tay, Uber spokeswoman, said on Sunday. "Safety is Uber's highest priority and in India, we work with licensed driver-partners to provide a safe transportation option, with layers of safeguards such as driver and vehicle information, and ETA-sharing to ensure there is accountability and traceability of all trips that occur on the Uber platform."
But the police have found fault with Uber, for not getting driver Shiv Kumar Yadav vetted by the police despite using his services for six months. Even in the US allegations have been levelled against Uber for "opening up its ranks to unlicensed drivers." The Delhi Police has asked Uber to join investigations under section 161 of the IPC by Monday.
The woman executive was raped between 11.30 pm and 12.45am on Friday night. Finding the woman dozing in the car while he was driving her to destination in Inderlok in north Delhi, he sent a message to the Uber app that he had finished dropping her to her destination. He then drove the car to a secluded spot and raped her after threatening to kill her. Then he dropped her home. The woman took a picture of the cab's number-plate, and called the police.
Uber reacted quickly. But it turned out that Shiv Kumar Yadav does not even have a commercial badge of a taxi driver. The National Commission of Women has called for Uber's ouster from India, though it will be difficult to pin down Uber, unless it is proved that Uber's operations, specifically its operating model, are illegal. Uber's "no cash, only credit card" policy has been questioned by the RBI as it is driving dollars out of India. Also, the fact that it owns no cars in India, and none of the cars it hires carries an Uber logo could go against it if a proper enquiry is ordered.
The Uber model of operation has been described as a "disruptive model" in the US. It hires only three employees per city. In India, it runs in 10 cities with 30 employees, nameless and faceless to most everybody. There is no office address to go to. There are no contact numbers. All that is there is a website, and an app. The app is Uber.
Founded by a college dropout in San Francisco, Uber is valued at $18.2 billion. Uber drivers are not Uber employees. They are on Uber's phonebook but respond only when they are free. It only acts as a 'go between'. Every cabbie on its rolls is handed an iPhone with GPRS, and GPS. No calls can be made from the iPhone but the driver can be tracked wherever he goes. Shiv Kumar Yadav switched off his iPhone after sending that message, that he had dropped the woman to her home in Inderlok.
Uber banned in Germany
A Frankfurt regional court banned mobile app car sharing service Uber throughout Germany in September 2014. But Uber vowed to continue operating across Germany. The court said the app violated Germany's Passenger Transportation Act. A final hearing has to take place. Uber could face a 250,000 (£198,000) fine per ride.
The case against Uber was brought by the Taxi Deutschland Servicegesellschaft (TDS) company, which offers a rival app that links users to registered taxi drivers. The company argued that Uber was not operating a legitimate service because its drivers did not have the correct permits, were not properly insured, and were not subject to checks. German law allows drivers without a commercial licence to pick up passengers only if they charge no more than the operating cost of the trip.
Describing the sharing economy as a 'locust', TDS chairman Dieter Schlenker said: "Uber operates with billions in cash from Goldman Sachs and Google, wraps itself in a start-up look and sells itself as a new economy saviour."
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