Uber banned in Delhi; rape accused driver sent to police custody till Dec 11

www.mangaloretoday.com

New Delhi, Dec 8, 2014: A court on Monday sent a driver, accused of raping a 25-year-old working woman in Delhi on Friday night, to three-day police custody for interrogation and recovery of a mobile phone.

Shiv Kumar Yadav was arrested on Sunday from his hideout in Uttar Pradesh’s Mathura town, about 135 km south of the capital, police said.

Metropolitan Magistrate Ambika Singh sent 32-year-old Shiv Kumar Yadav in police custody till December 11 after the police said he was required to be interrogated for recovery of a mobile phone used by him.

Yadav refused to undergo Test Identification Parade (TIP), a process under the criminal law through which a victim identifies an accused.

Delhi Commissioner of Police BS Bassi informed that the character certificate provided by the accused driver appears faked as the officer whose name was signed on the document wasn’t holding the post then.

Bassi added that a case of forgery will also be register against the rapist driver.

S Ganger, Special Commissioner, Transport, informed that the registration of the vehicle used in the crime and accused driver’s license have been canceled.

In a shocking piece of information which could put the San Francisco-based startup Uber taxi company in a tight spot, it has been revealed that the cabbie had earlier been jailed too in a sexual assault case.

Yadav is a repeat offender, it was revealed during his initial interrogation by the police. He has allegedly told the police that he had spent seven months in Tihar jail in a rape case which was filed against him in south Delhi’s Mehrauli area in 2011.

This highlights the laxity on the part of Uber. Had the US-based company run a background check and got police verification done, the incident could have averted.