Uber Banned in Delhi After Woman Accuses Driver of Rape

The Transport Department of the Delhi region forbade the car-sharing service from operating in India’s capital Monday after a woman was allegedly raped by one of its drivers over the weekend. Uber had initially been seen as a safe alternative to other forms of transportation in Delhi, however, since the company does not run background checks on its drivers, it slipped past it that the accused, Shiv Kumar Yadav, had also been charged with the same crime a few years ago.

The New York Times:

The woman, who is in her late 20s and works at a finance company, was returning from New Delhi to her home in nearby Gurgaon on Friday night. She said she awoke after Mr. Yadav had changed his route, taking her to a secluded area not far from a garbage dump. He then parked and raped her, she told the police early Saturday morning.

The police said the woman took a photograph of the cab, including its license plate, using the camera on her mobile phone, which she provided to the police. Mr. Yadav was arrested Sunday night, when police burst into a house where he had barricaded himself, in his native village 90 miles southeast of New Delhi.

During questioning, Mr. Yadav confessed to raping his passenger on Friday, as well as another woman he drove home in 2011, Mr. Verma said…Police investigators have been scathing in describing their dealings with Uber. Mr. Verma said he was unable to find any contact number or email address for Uber on its web pages and finally located its headquarters by booking an Uber cab and asking to be taken to the company’s head office, which turned out to be several rooms in a hotel.

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—Posted by Natasha Hakimi Zapata