Rape Case: Should Uber be accountable? [Uber Banned Across India]

[swatkats]

A woman in India says she was raped by a taxi driver after booking the cab using the popular Uber smartphone app.

The 26-year-old from Delhi told police she dozed off in the taxi and when she woke up the vehicle was parked in a secluded part of the capital.

A medical examination found she had been raped, police say. A man suspected of being the driver has been arrested.

The latest incident comes amid increasing concern at sexual violence against women in India.

Uber, which enables customers to book and pay for taxis online, said it was co-operating with the police.

"Our thoughts are with the victim of this terrible crime and we are working with the police as they investigate," it said in a statement.

The woman, who works in finance, told police she called the taxi on Friday evening after dining at a restaurant.

http://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-india-30368479

The driver did not have a driving licence issued by the Delhi Transport Authority and the only link the service provider had with him was an Smartphone App which he exited after the incident, the police said.

http://ibnlive.in.com/news/delhi-ra...produced-in-court-on-monday/516982-3-242.html

He was also arrested in 2011 and jailed for seven months on charges of raping a woman but was later acquitted, the police said.


http://www.ndtv.com/article/cheat-sheet/uber-banned-in-delhi-ceo-travis-kalanick-suggests-authorities-partly-to-blame-10-developments-631693

Its been a hard 2014 year for UBER in india, with such Rape incidents coming to light, Do you think it will have impact on women booking Uber Cabs or for that matter any couple during nights?
Its the driver who is blamable here but how did the company hire without a driving license and a Repeated Rape offender?

 

[Being.smart]

Really sad news, went up in morning, the first thing which i heard.

Don't know, how and when our some Indian men mentality will improve

why to have a forced one and run for lifetime, instead have a paid one and enjoy overnite

 

[Spacescreamer]

Driver's license number, name and cab's registration number must be announced on the cab's PA system before the driver starts off with the passengers. The level of illiteracy and lack of common sense among commercial drivers (gen public as well tbh) means that even when they are registered with the firm, they can think of getting away such acts.. is puzzling to say the least.

So maybe starting off only after a verbal logging and confirmation is a good idea in general?
Ofcource it should be made mandatory to have the driver's pic and other info displayed all the time inside cabs for passenger's access.

 

[Blackend]

I've been told by friends a couple times that when an Uber is called, an Ola branded cab and a Meru branded cab has come for a pickup. The drivers mentioned that they work across services to earn more money. If this is the case then its quite possible that Uber may not be verifying drivers on UberX services.

 

[swatkats]

Pure Negligence from uber. I wonder how Meru cabs arrive when you order a cab from uber.

 

[asingh]

Nothing is surprising in India. No value of life here. Probably he is going to be sent for counselling and psychiatric help, instead of the nearest tree-with-a-rope. By our: Kangaroo courts + media.

 

[Being.smart]

Now next thing will come in news that, some politicians will call that the lady was heavily drunken , was partying during night, which in turn led to this incident

 

[swatkats]

Uber claims its self to be the most reliable, safe ride in town. It claims to have thorough driver vetting system before any of them are “onboarded” on its system.It is a global private company valued at $40 billion and counts Google Ventures among its list of investors. It prides itself on providing the best customer service at a time when other cab companies couldn’t be bothered less. And that were the few reasons why I loved the service and recommended to all my friends and loved ones. The safety bubble has burst since news came out last night about an Uber driver allegedly raping a woman passenger and absconding.

Details coming out since the news broke suggests all the driver background vetting and safety processes that Uber claims were nothing more than a smokescreen. If reports are to be believed, even the phone number of the accused driver wasn’t registered in his name. Uber is yet to respond to BGR India’s requests to detail its driver vetting process followed in India. Uber says it lets users share their ETA with others and let others track the ride. But there seems to be a caveat – the tracking happens via the app on the driver’s phone. Again Uber isn’t forthcoming about how it tracks cars but it is quite clear that it cannot track the car if the driver deletes the Uber app or switches the phone off.

Safety much? The cars don’t have independent GPS trackers on them. In a way, even if the car is passing through an area with poor data connectivity, Uber would be unable to track the car. A lot of people are saying that you cannot know what any person is capable of and I agree. But with little or no background vetting, a sham of a security process and a brash attitude, I’d be unlikely to recommend Uber to anyone till the company comes out clean.


http://www.bgr.in/news/why-uber-should-be-held-accountable-for-delhi-rape-incident/


Rightly said.

 

[Lord Nemesis]

Uber is not a cab company. AFAIK, they do not claim to be one in any of the countries they operate in. They claim to be networking service. You can use them for connecting with not only cab drivers for cabs as well as cab sharing, but also for car pooling etc. Anybody can register and offer rides. At least thats how its supposed to be in other countries.

Most of these kind of operators make it clear that they are not responsible for what happens after you board a cab and that you are using their services at your own risk. For instance, in the site of one other cab finding service of this type ( I don't recall the name now) in India, they explicitly mentioned this and have even given examples like cab driver asking you to get off in the middle between two cities etc as extreme examples where they have no liability.

Technically they have just as much accountabilty as facebook in a case where a facebook user commited a crime againist another facebook user after getting aquained through facebook.

Still, if uber has misrepresented itself in India and made any false claims that influenced the decision to use the service by customers, they should definitely be made accountable to that extent.

 

[yashvisent]

The culprits should be punished. Uber should be warned to check the background of people before hiring them. Once I boarded a TAB cab from dadar station and despite telling him the route he misguided the vihicle and demanded the full fare. I was charged almost Rs.120 for this wrong turn. Wasting the time and getting delayed at the venue was a bonus.

 

[ronnie_gogs]

I San Francisco a uber driver attacked a man with a hammer and in one case a man kidnapped a woman.. Uber concept of private cabs is flawed... In Singapore normal taxi drivers are using app to get new customers...

In fact all taxi drivers for Uber got a free iPhone to use uber on... Vast countries where you are hiring regular drivers as taxi drivers it wont work IMO..

Oh ya on topic Uber should be liable for not checking the criminal record of drivers. The guy served a prison sentence for similar offence... In US they would be sued bankrupt..

 

[sharktale1212]

Pure Negligence from uber. I wonder how Meru cabs arrive when you order a cab from uber.

Because they are not cab providers. They are a "ridesharing" company ie anyone can offer a ride for a price. Something like the cabbies/people do near Hi-Tech city bus stand. That said, their "driver" registration says that one will have to go through a background check.
Their model has been questioned all over the world: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Uber_(company)#Regulatory_opposition
Though wiki notes notes that UBER is running afoul of CNP transactions, there is another issue with their operation. In India, cars used for commercial (read transportation) business need to register their operations and pay taxes (income and other-wise). So not sure how this model is operating.

Edit: Now they say this:
"He added that Uber is "misleading customers" by offering them Taxis with All-India permits that cannot ply in Delhi from point-to-point ferrying customers. "In this rape case, the victim was provided a All India Permit Taxi which is not allowed to ferry customers point-to-point in the National capital."

Read more at:
http://economictimes.indiatimes.com...misleading-customers/articleshow/45411180.cms

 

[Lord Nemesis]

Here is an excerpt from the legal section of Uber's site.

YOU ACKNOWLEDGE THAT UBER DOES NOT PROVIDE TRANSPORTATION OR LOGISTICS SERVICES OR FUNCTION AS A TRANSPORTATION CARRIER. UBER'S SERVICES MAY BE USED BY YOU TO REQUEST AND SCHEDULE TRANSPORTATION OR LOGISTICS SERVICES WITH THIRD PARTY PROVIDERS, BUT YOU AGREE THAT UBER HAS NO RESPONSIBILITY OR LIABILITY TO YOU RELATED TO ANY TRANSPORTATION OR LOGISTICS PROVIDED TO YOU BY THIRD PARTY PROVIDERS THROUGH THE USE OF THE SERVICES OTHER THAN AS EXPRESSLY SET FORTH IN THESE TERMS.

UBER DOES NOT GUARANTEE THE SUITABILITY, SAFETY OR ABILITY OF THIRD PARTY PROVIDERS. IT IS SOLELY YOUR RESPONSIBILITY TO DETERMINE IF A THIRD PARTY PROVIDER WILL MEET YOUR NEEDS AND EXPECTATIONS. UBER WILL NOT PARTICIPATE IN DISPUTES BETWEEN YOU AND A THIRD PARTY PROVIDER. BY USING THE SERVICES, YOU ACKNOWLEDGE THAT YOU MAY BE EXPOSED TO SITUATIONS INVOLVING THIRD PARTY PROVIDERS THAT ARE POTENTIALLY UNSAFE, OFFENSIVE, HARMFUL TO MINORS, OR OTHERWISE OBJECTIONABLE, AND THAT USE OF THIRD PARTY PROVIDERS ARRANGED OR SCHEDULED USING THE SERVICES IS AT YOUR OWN RISK AND JUDGMENT. UBER SHALL NOT HAVE ANY LIABILITY ARISING FROM OR IN ANY WAY RELATED TO YOUR TRANSACTIONS OR RELATIONSHIP WITH THIRD PARTY PROVIDERS.

 

[ronnie_gogs]

You write all you want in your TOS but if the legal system is sue friendly it can mean nothing in court... Like 23.6 billion awarded from tobacco company for a cancer lawsuit. You have to follow the law of the country which in our case is archaic as laws not meant for 21st century modern technology..

They will get more heat back home in US than in India for this. This is just bad bad PR. There rivals will clean them out.

India you can get away from anything if you have right lawyers and contacts. Like union carbide after Bhopal.

 

[sharktale1212]

UBER banned and blacklisted:

http://www.hindustantimes.com/india...nother-rape-case-police/article1-1294283.aspx

 

[Lord Nemesis]

Personally, I don't think these kind of services are suitable in India. Best is to stop services like Uber from being run in India at all. People in this country are not trustworthy which is proved time and again repeatedly. There are cases of registered and licensed cab drivers from reputed travel companies have also induced in such crimes. Foreign tourists are prime targets. So called negligence is immaterial when there is a bigger trust issue at the core.

So who is to blame in this particular case? People want action against Uber's management as it has clearly become a fashion in India to blame unrelated entities for our own damn problems. As a service, Uber clearly declared that they are not a transportation company and service availed are at their own risk. If they have made any false pretenses, then they have to be made liable for that. But still...

It is the fault of the users for not clearly checking up and doing their research before availing such services. You don't use a service like Uber to get a cab late night and going alone in a semi conscious state. gender does not even matter here. it is not safe for either male or female.

It is the fault of the police that tabs are not kept on rape offenders when its well known that rape repeat crimes is very high.

It is the fault of our judicial system that these offenders get light sentences or get away on bail for palty amounts. There are numerous cases where a rape culprits out on bail have done repeat offenses.

Instead of focusing on the real issues, people, police, politicians and govt try to pin the blame on the company as if negligence is the main problem here. We are talking about a country where you can bribe law enforcement and get your way with anything. How hard is it to get a license, papers, police certificate using bribes. This guy supposedly has a fake certificate (I am pretty sure that he had one obtained through bribes and the police is just trying to absolve themselves). How does a company even verify the documents if they even want to go about doing it?

 

[swatkats]

^ Mainstream media is leaving no stone unturned, with the headlines, opinions and is blaming the company. Seems like People are more interested in Rape cases than Port Scam in Bengal.
@Lord Nemesis couldn't agree anymore.

 

[avi]

Delhi police had given NOC on the driver saying he has no criminal record - https://twitter.com/timesnow/status/541885210573275136

As a service, Uber clearly declared that they are not a transportation company and service availed are at their own risk. If they have made any false pretenses, then they have to be made liable for that. But still...

https://www.uber.com/safety
https://www.uber.com/safety

"Uber is committed to connecting you to the safest ride on the road"

Driver Screening:

http://blog.uber.com/driverscreening

which includes:

Criteria for drivers to pass through Uber’s screening, going back seven years:

- No DUI or other drug related driving violations or severe infractions*
- No Hit and Runs
- No fatal accidents
- No history of reckless driving
- No violent crimes
- No sexual offenses
- No gun related violations
- No resisting/evading arrest
- No driving without insurance or suspended license charge in the past 3 years

 

[ithehappy]

How come you guys are continuing this discussion where the rape master hasn't come and involved himself yet?

ROFL.

 

[Lord Nemesis]

^^ yes, but they also clearly mention that they take no responsibility for your safety or security as I quoted from their legal section. You can view that screening process as just a bonus. Its not something that they are taking liability for.

In this particular case, how do they even verify when the driver has a certificate giving him clean chit from the police.

Since I also travel by cab facility provided by my company, I know very well from the drivers how easy it is for them to get it.