BENGALURU: A private firm employee was allegedly attacked by an autorickshaw driver here when she refused his demand for extra fare.
Further, when she called the police helpline, operators allegedly told her: “Come to police station, we can’t come to you.”
The driver, Rizwan Basha, hit the woman four times but onlookers didn’t come to her rescue. He is also affiliated to Ola Cabs service. Although it didn’t happen when he was on duty with Ola, the operator said it terminated the driver’s service from its platform.
“Though it did not happen on a ride booked through Ola app, we have zero tolerance for such behaviour.
In her complaint posted on the Ola Cabs Facebook page, the woman said she got into the autorickshaw on the condition she would pay by the meter. But he demanded Rs 30 extra once he started going to her destination. When she protested, he got angry and shouted, “Chal utar.”
When she said she’d complain to autorickshaw drivers nearby, Basha verbally abused her and stopped his vehicle.
She called 100 from her mobile phone and started explaining the situation but the driver stood next to her and abused her loudly. She claimed police personnel didn’t bother about her complaint. That’s when the driver started hitting her on her arm.
“He had hit me hard about three times by now and I was scared. I started screaming for help and people gathered around as if I was a circus monkey and this master was trying to tame me by hitting me. No one came to my rescue,” she wrote.
When she took a cellphone photo of the driver, he got more furious and hit her again. By then, police called her back and when she explained the situation they asked her to come to the police station and they can’t go to the spot.
On their FB page, police said the case has been forwarded the Traffic Management Centre. The woman was yet to file a police complaint till Thursday evening.
