Sadly another rape case has been reported in Delhi. This time it was a female passenger going back home from a party on a Friday night. In this particular case, the rape was committed by Shiv Kumar Yadav, a 32 year taxi old driver. I have been reading news about this story and it seems that this man was a sexual predator and terrorised local women. By the time he was 21 years old, he was already molesting women and had several cases registered against him for assaults, rape and carrying firearms.
I fail to understand how he managed to go through and get a job as a cab driver to one of the most popular ride share and taxi service app called Uber of which their headquarters are in San Francisco, United States. Uber cabs enables their customers to book and pay for taxis online. I thought a company as popular as this would be screening their drivers.
Delhi’s transport department has banned the use of Uber taxi booking services in Delhi but so far there have been reports of people still being able to use the service. Delhi police has also banned several other web based taxi firms for failing to carry out proper driver checks. India has learnt nothing since a woman was gang-raped in a moving bus.
I have written extensively in my book “India Travel Survival Guide For Women” on how to be safe in India. One of the tips I have suggested is not to venture out late at night and if you do, make sure you have a male companion with you. A male does seem to deter potential rapists but still not complete foolproof as in the case of a Swiss woman who was raped by a bunch of men in front of her husband.
Here’s more tips on how to be safe if you happen to be travelling to India on your own.
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