A well known environmental activist alleged on Wednesday that she had been assaulted by the driver of an Uber cab who twisted her arm during the trip, and that her repeated calls to the police emergency helpline went unanswered.
Bharati Chaturvedi, founder of the nonprofit Chintan, told The Indian Express on Wednesday evening that she intended to file an FIR against both the cab driver and Uber on Thursday.
Chaturvedi said that during the ride from Vasant Vihar to a clinic in Sarvodaya Enclave, the location pin had stopped unexpectedly near Essex Farms. The driver agreed to take her to her destination, but allegedly started to behave aggressively soon afterward.
“The pin stopped near Essex Farms. The driver agreed to drop me minus the pin. But he got irritated and started to yell, and suddenly turned when I asked him to go straight and take a U-turn,” Chaturvedi said.
According to Chaturvedi, the situation escalated thereafter. The driver allegedly refused to stop. Feeling suddenly very unsafe, she reflexively opened the door, Chaturvedi said.
“I didn’t know what to do at the moment… Suddenly I remembered learning four to six years ago… ‘if you feel uncomfortable in a moving vehicle, open the door’,” she said.
This apparently enraged the driver, and he reacted violently. “He turned back, and with great strength he twisted my full arm,” Chaturvedi said. “I asked him, how dare you! He said, ‘you were opening the door’. I said, ‘I was asking you to stop.’ He could have stopped,” she added.
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Chaturvedi said that the area DCP’s office was only about 100 metres from the place where this happened. “If I knew, I would have walked there and complained,” she said.
She said she called the police emergency number, but there was no response. “I then called Uber… They said they would discuss the incident with the team and assess if there was a problem,” she said.
The driver, Chaturvedi alleged, told her that “people like her” created such situations “in order not to pay”.
Uber later emailed Chaturvedi to say that the company would talk to the driver and “take a decision”. “They should have called the driver and asked him to take the payment and leave the site, and got me another vehicle. What if the driver had a knife and attacked…?” she said. Uber did not have a “system” or “accountability”, she alleged.
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Chaturvedi posted about the incident on X in the afternoon. Many women responded to the post, and recounted similar experiences, she said.
“Imagine if I was a 19-year-old young woman…travelling through an unsafe area? Uber said ‘We are concerned about your safety. Please call the police.’ And the police didn’t pick up when I called 100,” she said.
Chaturvedi later sent a detailed complaint to Delhi Police Commissioner Satish Golcha by email, describing the incident as “the first physical assault I have ever experienced in my life”. She wrote that “The failure of the emergency-response system was far more unsettling” than the assault itself.
“I called 100 multiple times… I was informed that the number was ‘not available’… On another attempt, no one answered at all,” she wrote.
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She added that she even tried seeking help from a passing police patrol van, but did not receive assistance.
DCP (South) Ankit Chauhan, replying to Chaturvedi’s post on X, said: “The matter has been duly taken into cognisance and is being inquired into. A DM has been sent to you for additional details. Appropriate legal action shall be initiated based on the findings.”
In a statement, an Uber spokesperson said, “This conduct is a clear breach of Uber’s Community Guidelines, and the driver’s access to the Uber app has been removed.”
(With inputs from Pragynesh and Devansh Mittal)