Bengaluru: A 23-year-old woman fashion designer was allegedly harassed by an Ola cab driver on Sunday night who tried holding her hostage inside the cab by activating the child lock.
The incident took place around 10.30 pm on Sunday, in a deserted spot on the Ring Road in south east Bengaluru, an NDTV report said.
The driver, Rajashekar Reddy kept molesting her and held her captive until he was forced to unlock the car when she began screaming and banging the windows.
The driver then started calling the woman on her number to warn her after which she blocked his number.
"There was nobody on the road. I was looking out of the window when he suddenly stopped and started touching my legs. I warned him and tried to damage the car. He let me go then. He tried calling me later to warn me but then I blocked his number," the woman was quoted as saying by NDTV.
Following the incident an Ola spokesperson said, "We regret the unfortunate experience the customer had during their ride. We have zero tolerance to such incidents and the driver has been suspended from the platform as an immediate action upon receiving the complaint".
The spokesperson also urged the customer to lodge a formal complaint with the authorities.
"Safety of customers is our priority and we will continue to extend our full support to this investigation against the said driver," the Ola spokesperson added.
The victim approached the police for help only after Ola assured to take an action against the accused driver. However, she did not file a formal complaint with the police, an ANI report said.
The woman also alleged that the company did not inform her of taking any action against the driver.
"I reported the incident to Ola on Sunday night itself but even on Monday, when the police asked, they had not taken any action. Even now they haven't told me what action has been taken. He was rated 4.9 on the app," the woman said.
What is the company doing to ensure women who use the service are safe?" she asked.
