Noida: A Delhi-based woman, Ananya Bhattacharya spoke her experience on Twitter at midnight on Tuesday after being terrified by an Uber driver.
She narrates a horrific experience when she booked an Uber at 10:55 PM. She was travelling alone with the driver -who she claims was under the influence of alcohols and pan- when he stopped the car on a deserted road of the Noida-Greater Noida Expressway.
This is what she narrates:
I get into an @Uber from a friend's place at 10.55pm. The car starts, driver asks where I had to go. The stench of alcohol and paan hits me.
— Ananya Bhattacharya (@ananya116) July 11, 2017
I tell him the location, ask him to follow navigation. On Noida-Greater Noida Expressway. We take the service lane. In 5 mins, car stops.
— Ananya Bhattacharya (@ananya116) July 11, 2017
I ask the driver what happened. He tells me car's run out of petrol. The stretch where he's stopped the car is dark and infamous for crimes.
— Ananya Bhattacharya (@ananya116) July 11, 2017
The driver calls up his 'brother' and asks him to go to a petrol pump and get petrol. Driver tells him he has an 'aurat' in the car.
— Ananya Bhattacharya (@ananya116) July 11, 2017
At this point, I call up a friend and start working out options. Friend leaves from his place and tells me he's on way to pick me up.
— Ananya Bhattacharya (@ananya116) July 11, 2017
The driver overhears me talking and asks if someone was coming to pick me up. I tell a curt yes. He locks the doors, switches on the light.
— Ananya Bhattacharya (@ananya116) July 11, 2017
I snap at him, ask him to switch off the light. Meanwhile, he's made 5 more calls, to 2 different people (from what I could understand).
— Ananya Bhattacharya (@ananya116) July 11, 2017
While speaking to the Quint, bhattacharya said: “It was one of the unsafe places in Delhi/NCR and then he switched on the lights. Why would someone do that? As people will come to know who’s sitting inside. I lay low till my friend arrived,” adding that the incident left her shaken.
10 minutes pass, no sign of his 'brother' or the petrol. My friend arrives. I get off the car and ask the driver to end the trip. He doesn't
— Ananya Bhattacharya (@ananya116) July 11, 2017
Driver gives both of us (friend and me) a death stare. I cancel the trip after asking him to end it falls on deaf ears.
— Ananya Bhattacharya (@ananya116) July 11, 2017
Meanwhile, a @Uppolice patrol van passes the car. They don't stop to even check why a car is just standing in the middle of the road.
— Ananya Bhattacharya (@ananya116) July 11, 2017
I'm numb from the experience. Shudder to think what could have happened had my friend not reached there before the @Uber driver's friends.
— Ananya Bhattacharya (@ananya116) July 11, 2017
Funniest part: After I cancel the trip, @Uber_India decided to charge ME for the entire trip.
— Ananya Bhattacharya (@ananya116) July 11, 2017
Update: 8 hours later, 2 bot mails from @Uber_India in response to complaints on app, saying they have 'resolved' the issue. NOTHING else. pic.twitter.com/44cCJQIb4C
— Ananya Bhattacharya (@ananya116) July 12, 2017
In a response by Uber, spokesperson said:
“This is a regrettable and concerning incident. We are internally reviewing the matter and the driver was immediately barred from accessing the app.”
But the most concerning part it, Uber drivers are repetitively being accused as criminals and abusive by the women. This is not the first incident reported by a woman against Uber driver.
In 2014, an Uber driver was convicted of raping a female passenger. The controversy had compelled Uber CEO, Travis Kalanick, to take a temporary ‘leave of absence’.