Delhi Police registers FIR after woman journalist claims harassment by Uber driver

The Delhi Police has registered a case after a woman journalist alleged that she was sexually harassed by an Uber auto-rickshaw driver during a ride in southeast Delhi, officials said on Friday. According to police, the journalist, a resident of Bharat Nagar, filed a complaint at the New Friends Colony police station Thursday night.

She alleged indecent behaviour as well as lascivious staring by the Uber driver while she was travelling from New Friends Colony to Malviya Nagar on Wednesday around 4.40 pm, police said. A case under section 509 (word, gesture or act intended to insult the modesty of a woman) of the IPC has been registered and investigation initiated, Deputy Commissioner of Police (southeast) Rajesh Deo said.

The auto-rickshaw was found registered in the name of one Mohammad Yunus Khan, a resident of Nehru Camp in Govindpuri, who is being interrogated in order to nab the offender driver, police said. Taking to Twitter, the woman narrated her ordeal.

"I took an auto from my home to a friend's place. After a while, I noticed that the driver was looking at me through the side mirrors of the auto, precisely at my breasts. I shifted a bit towards right and wasn't visible in the left side mirror," she said in a tweet.

"He then started looking into the right side of the mirror. I then shifted to the extreme left and wasn't visible in any of the mirrors. He then started looking back again and again to see me. I first tried using the safety feature of @uber, but to no avail," she said in another tweet.

She said she did not cancel the ride as it was a short one.

The Delhi Commission for Women said it has received a complaint in the matter and has issued a notice to the city police and the cab aggregator firm.

The women’s panel has also sought an action taken report by March 6. In its notice to Uber, the panel has sought details of steps taken to ensure such incidents do not happen and whether the accused auto driver had been verified by police.