In Mumbai, Uber Suspends Driver For Allegedly Molesting Passenger

Mumbai: Taxi service Uber has suspended a driver in Mumbai after complaints that he allegedly molested a foreign woman who hired his cab on Wednesday night.

A friend of the alleged victim described what happened in a post on Facebook. The driver "said that since the roads in Mumbai are horrible she was welcome to come sit in the passenger seat up front with him. When she refused to move he complained about low visibility through his back screen and told her he was going to pull over to clean it." The man then allegedly entered the rear of the car and molested the expat. The Facebook post says, "She managed to jump off and get home safely."

"Uber has a zero tolerance policy towards any sort of harassment or misconduct. We have suspended the driver from our platform and have shared all details related to the trip and the driver with the relevant authorities for official investigation," said a statement from the taxi hiring app.

Last year, an Uber driver in Delhi, Shiv Kumar Yadav, was sentenced to life imprisonment for raping a young executive in his car in December 2014. She had fallen asleep in the car and when she woke up, she found herself in a deserted area where the driver sexually assaulted her. After he was arrested, investigators discovered that that he had five cases of sexual assault registered against him.

He had used fake references to get his job with Uber, whose license was cancelled temporarily by the Delhi government after the crime.

Uber then worked on introducing new safety measures and tightened driver checks before a court permitted it to operate again in the capital.