File photo: Shiv Kumar Yadav at a Delhi court.
A Delhi court has framed charges against Shiv Kumar Yadav, the driver of the Uber cab who allegedly raped a woman passenger last month, triggering nationwide outrage. Yadav has been charged with rape, kidnapping and criminal intimidation.
Additional Sessions Judge Kaveri Baweja framed the charges, during which Yadav created a minor drama in court saying he had not been properly represented.
Yadav allegedly raped the woman passenger - a 25-year-old finance executive working in Gurgaon, on the evening of December 5.
In her complaint, the woman said as she dozed off in the car, the driver took her to an unknown location, which later turned out to be a spot just a few kilometers from her home in Inderlok. After assaulting her, he even allegedly threatened to violate her with an iron rod, in a chilling reminder of the December 16, 2012, gangrape case in Delhi.
Two days later, Yadav was arrested from his hometown Mathura in a joint operation by the police of Delhi and Uttar Pradesh.
The charge-sheet against him was filed in just 19 days and the Delhi police asked for a trial in a fast-track court. The 150-page charge-sheet included charges of rape, kidnapping and criminal intimidation among others.
The police relied on forensic evidence and placed on record the route map of the car in which the alleged offence was committed.
Ride-sharing app Uber, with which Yadav had been registered, had drawn fire for failing to deliver on its promise of safety. Uber had not conducted any background checks on Yadav, who had at least five cases against him - two under the Uttar Pradesh Control of Goondas Act and the rest relating to sexual assaults.
Also, Uber had not installed any tracking device in the cab owned by Yadav. The only tracking device he was given was a cellphone, which he had switched off before allegedly assaulting the woman.