Delhi-based lawyer Tanya Sharma took to social media to share a harrowing experience with Uber after a driver sent inappropriate messages shortly after she booked a ride. Upon confirming the ride, Tanya began receiving lewd and inappropriate messages from the assigned driver. She shared a screenshot of the messages in which he harassed her. When Tanya informed the driver that she would be five minutes late, the assigned driver, Jitendra Kumar, responded with, “Jaldi aao babu yaar, man ho rha hai.”
The lawyer shared the screenshots of the messages she received from the driver. She said that due to the “disturbing texts” after 5 minutes of booking the cab, she cancelled the cab. “I cancelled the booking and filed a complaint against this person and the process of grievance redressal for Uber India is send a sympathetic message to the aggrieved and forget about it.. is it how it works?” she wrote. After this “sympathetic message,” She decided to go public. However, After receiving backlash from her social media post, Uber eventually banned the driver from their platform.
The lawyer also shared Uber’s response after she filed her complaint, expressing her frustration with the company’s request for 24-48 hours to provide a reply. “What if this same thing happened to other women during these so called 48hrs of your policy ? Are you guys ready to take responsibility of my safety and the safety of those women out there?” she said.
In a follow-up response, Uber confirmed that the driver had been banned from the platform. “We’ve reached out to your driver in question and based on the feedback provided, we have barred their access to the Uber platform. If you decide to make a police report, or if you have already done so, Uber can help by providing necessary information to the law enforcement, subject to our privacy and confidentiality policies,” they said in a response shared by the lawyer.
Her post ignited a debate on LinkedIn, with many users voicing their own concerns about safety while booking cabs. “I booked an Uber today, the driver refused to turn on the AC and asked me to get another cab as he was equally rude and carefree of any rules or accountability. To my surprise, I was charged almost 60% of the fare as he started the ride and marked it as completed,” said one of them.
Tanya later posted an update about the reply she received from Uber’s grievance officer, Hemanth Kumar Chengannagari. She raised concerns about the company’s handling of the situation, asking, “What if other women experienced this during the 48-hour window of your policy? Are you prepared to take responsibility for my safety and for the safety of other women?”
