Mumbai: Woman jumps off rickshaw as driver behaves obscenely

An autorickshaw driver was arrested in Mulund in Mumbai for allegedly staring at a woman passenger and issuing a threat, leading to her jumping off the running vehicle and sustaining head injuries, police said on Saturday.

The 21-year-old woman had boarded the autorickshaw on Thursday night and had asked to be ferried to Panchratna area of the north-eastern suburb, said the Mulund police station official.

"However, the rickshaw driver who was constantly staring at her through the rear-view mirror told her she will have to go where he wanted to go and not to where she had asked. He then took the vehicle in the wrong direction," he said.

"The woman panicked and jumped out of the running vehicle near Mulund Darshan building, hitting her head against a speed-breaker on the road. Passers-by took the woman to a hospital, where she is recuperating, while the rickshaw driver sped off," he added.

Based on her complaint, Mulund police began checking CCTVs in the area and zeroed in on the 35-year-old driver and arrested him on Friday under section 509 (word, gesture or act intended to insult the modesty of a woman) of IPC, said the official.