New Delhi Bans Uber Following Rape Accusation

The Indian capital of New Delhi banned popular ride-sharing service Uber on Monday, just days after a 27-year-old female passenger accused one of its drivers of raping her.

Delhi officials said the suspension of Uber’s services is not connected to the alleged attack, which sparked protests in the city.

Satish Mathur, the special commissioner of the Delhi Transport Department, told the Economic Times that Uber had been “misleading customers” by operating on a license known as an All-India permit, which excludes the National Capital Region and New Delhi, and had violated rules governing parking, fleet size and GPS tracking regulations.

“Uber never applied for any permission to us, is not recognized under the Radio Taxi Rules and has flouted most of the laid-down rules,” he said.

Uber, meanwhile, has pledged to improve its screening processes in India after the arrest of a driver on rape charges. Travis Kalanick, chief executive officer of the San Francisco-based company, said Uber would “work with the government to establish clear background checks currently absent in their commercial transportation licensing programs”.

The accusations of sexual assault came just days before the second anniversary of the controversial gang rape and murder of a young woman on a bus in Delhi, an incident that sparked worldwide condemnation and a nationwide debate on the level of sexual assault in Indian society.

[BBC]