An Uber autorickshaw driver allegedly sexually assaulted a college student in Chennai and fled leaving his vehicle behind after she raised an alarm. The incident occurred on Sunday night when the woman, Ishita Singh, was returning to a city hotel along with a friend.
Narrating the incident on Twitter, the woman said she had booked the Uber autorickshaw ride from a restaurant to a hotel in Semmancheri. As she and her friend stepped out of the auto on reaching the destination, the driver touched her inappropriately, she alleged.
“An Uber Auto driver named Selvam sexually assaulted me by pressing my right breast, near Ibis OMR Hotel, when my friend and I returned from East Coast Madras to the hotel," she wrote, tagging Tamil Nadu Police.
In a subsequent tweet, she added that the driver fled from the spot after she raised an alarm. Following the incident, the woman claimed she dialled the police but "there was no response".
After 30 minutes, a policeman reached the hotel with another man, she claimed, but there was no woman cop. "He asked us to wait till the morning to file an FIR as there was no lady officer at the station. "'It's an order by the government," he said, when asked about the lady officer," her tweet read.
"He was also not letting us go to the police station to file an offline FIR," she said, adding that she was not allowed inside the police station when they reached there, as "women are not allowed (in police stations) during the night."
The woman also posted photos of the autorickshaw in which she and her friend were travelling along with the screengrabs of her Uber trip. She has also shared her ride transaction details and the name of the driver.
Replying to the Twitter thread, the Tambaram Police Commissionerate said a case has been registered and a search is on for the accused.
Uber India, taking cognizance of the incident, asked the woman to share the details of her ride.
“Hey, this is concerning. Please share the registered details via direct message with which the trip was requested. We'll follow up,” the reply read.
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