Kolkata police on Saturday arrested an app-based bike driver for allegedly threatening and sending pornographic videos to a doctor for cancelling the ride, news agency PTI reported.
The doctor, working at a private medical facility in Kolkata‘s Jadavpur area, booked her ride around 8 pm from the hospital premises. She reportedly cancelled the ride because the driver was allegedly late.
After cancelling the ride, the doctor reportedly received at least 17 calls from the bike driver, who threatened with “dire consequences”. In addition to the threat, the driver allegedly sent sexually explicit content to the doctor on WhatsApp, police said.
“The doctor first filed an e-complaint with the Police Commissioner and the Joint CP Crime. She also sent an email to the cyber cell before lodging a complaint with the Purba Jadavpur Police Station,” the officer said. Police said the driver was arrested within a few hours of the victim filing the complaint.
Recent incidents
On October 26, a woman from Delhi shared a horrific story on Reddit of receiving a rape threat from an Uber driver while she was travelling alone at night. The driver allegedly asked “If I were to do anything to you in five minutes, do you think your mother could come and help you?”.
The cab driver proceeded to ask her, “What were you doing out so late at night? You know, had you been a guy, I wouldn’t have picked you up at all.”
He then said, women should not be commuting alone or stepping out so late, because if they get raped afterwards then the drivers are blamed. In order to get out of the situation, the woman said she was sharing her ride location with her mother, who could track her.
On October 14, a student from Manipur accused Delhi police officials of apathy to her harassment complaint against a cab driver, which allegedly offered the man an “easy path to bail”.
During the ride, the driver from an online cab aggregator would constantly ask uncomfortable questions. She claimed that the driver held her against her will and drove to an isolated location with the intent to rape her. When she resisted the driver’s advances, he even threatened to kill her.
(With PTI inputs)