Uber app banned in New Delhi after driver accused of rape

Online taxi service Uber has been banned from operating in New Delhi, after a female passenger accused one of its drivers of rape, a case that has reignited a debate about the safety of women in India.

Uber, which had employed the driver – even though he had been arrested on allegations of sexual assault three years ago – will be blacklisted from providing any future services in the New Delhi area, the city’s transport department said in a statement.

The attack is the latest to draw attention to the dangers faced by women in the world’s second-most populous nation. Even after the enactment of new laws imposing stricter penalties and establishing fast-track courts, India is struggling to tame attitudes that leave women vulnerable to harassment and rape.

“Keeping in view the violation and the horrific crime committed by the driver, the transport department has banned all activities relating to providing any transport service by the www.Uber.com,” special commissioner Kuldeep Singh Gangar said.

A spokeswoman for Uber said she could not immediately comment.

The arrested driver, Shiv Kumar Yadav, appeared in court and was remanded in custody for three days. He was arrested on charges of raping a woman three years ago, but was later acquitted, police said.

Indian police said they were considering legal action against the taxi service for failing to run background checks on the driver. The company said there were no defined rules in India on background checks for commercial transport licences and it was working with the government to address the issue.

“What happened over the weekend in New Delhi is horrific,” Travis Kalanick, Uber’s chief executive officer, said in a statement before the ban. “We will do everything, I repeat, everything to help bring this perpetrator to justice.”

Police said the 32-year-old driver dropped the woman home after attacking her and warned her not to inform the authorities. She managed to note the driver’s number and take a photograph of his car, they said.

The sexual assault happened two years after the fatal gang rape of another young woman taking public transport in New Delhi. That case led to nationwide protests and forced the government to address demands for heavier sentences for rape.

India is the fourth-most dangerous place for a woman to take public transport, according to a poll published in October by the Thomson Reuters Foundation. It was ranked second-worst on safety at night and for verbal harassment.

On average, 40 cases of crimes against women are registered daily by Delhi police. This included at least four cases of rape every day, the Minister of State for Home Affairs Haribhai Parthibhai Chaudhary told parliament last week.