In Kolkata, West Bengal, a Bengali serial actress, Swastika Dutta was pulled out of her Uber taxi and threatened by the driver, Jamshed. The actress took to Facebook to pen down her ordeal.
What Swastika Dutta said
In her Facebook post yesterday, the actress wrote that she felt humiliated after this incident. According to Dutta, the driver of the Uber taxi, one Jamshed, took her to a remote area, pulled her out of the taxi and threatened her. She says that she had booked the taxi from her studio and midway during the ride, Jamshed cancelled the ride and asked her to get out of the cab. When she refused, she says, he turned the taxi in the opposite direction, took her to ‘his locality’ and started abusing her.
She said that it was at this point of time that he opened the door, pulled her out of the car and started threatening her. When she tried to retaliate, he said: “ki korbi kor, dekhi ki korte parish” (Do what you think you can, let’s see what you can do). According to Dutta’s Facebook post, the driver also threatened to call ‘other boys’.
The entire incident took place in a span of half an hour, between 8:15 and 8:45 in the morning. Swastika Dutta said the encounter took place in front of a restaurant near the busy EM bypass in Kolkata.
Police takes cognisance
Yesterday evening, the Kolkata police took to Twitter to assure that all necessary action will be taken and the culprit won’t be spared.
@Iamswastika based on your complaint we are taking necessary action, be rest assured the culprit will not be spared.
— Kolkata Police (@KolkataPolice) July 10, 2019
Earlier, former Miss India, Ushoshi Sengupta had faced a similar ordeal when she was dragged out of her car and attacked by several men. After Sengupta’s Facebook post went viral, the Kolkata police finally swung into action and arrested seven men, Sheik Rahit, Fardin Khan, Sk. Sabir Ali, Sk. Gani, Sk. Imran Ali, Sk. Wasim and Atif Khan, for allegedly harassing the complainant, assaulting an Uber driver and vandalising the cab.
In another incident, Uber driver Aftab had gotten abusive with a passenger after he got angry upon seeing a Shivaji temple.
We had also reported how a lady with the Twitter handle @sona2905 was subjected to rude and obnoxious behaviour of an Uber driver, Usman, who got aggressive on seeing Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s picture on her phone cover. He started off with refusing to turn on the air conditioner in the Uber and even told her to ‘ask Modi to send her a cab’.
Uber responds
Uber has issued a statement responding to the incident, narrating it as deeply concerning. They have also informed that the concerned driver’s access to the app has been removed. The statement issued by a spokesperson of Uber says, “What’s been described is deeply concerning. This is a clear violation of the safety standards set by our community guidelines, and we have removed the driver’s access to the app. We stand ready to support law enforcement authorities in their investigations.”
