Swaraj reiterated that the Centre was committed to ensure the safety of all foreign nationals in the country. “I have asked the Lt Governor Delhi for a report on the molestation of a Belgian girl by a cab driver,” the Union Minister tweeted.
“We are committed to the safety and security of all foreign nationals in India,” she said.
The Belgian woman was allegedly molested by an Ola cab driver in South-east Delhi’s CR Park area. The accused cabbie, identified as Bal Raj Singh, was arrested within hours the incident took place.
The accused is a native of Rajasthan’s Alwar district. Ola has also terminated the driver from its platform.
The woman, who identified herself as a translator, told the police that she had booked the cab from Gurgaon and during the journey the cab driver allegedly molested her.
“The driver deliberately took the wrong route after Hauz Khas and when the woman told him that she will ask her friend, he snatched away her phone and deleted the records related to Ola,” a police official said.
AAP for ban on unlicensed aPp-based cab services Meanwhile, The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) has demanded a complete ban on the unlicensed app-based cab services, particularly Ola and Uber in the entire NCR in the wake of the molestation incident. The AAP has also demanded a “coordinated and severe crackdown” on taxi companies in NCR so that the message is loud and clear that there will be no compromise on women’s safety.
The party said the latest incident showed that the taxi aggregator companies were still not doing their due diligence before registering drivers on their apps.
“The Aam Aadmi Party demands a complete ban on the unlicensed app-based taxi services, particularly Ola and Uber, in the entire National Capital Region (NCR), till these taxi providers agree to comply with the safety standards and regulations,” the party said in a statement.
It added: “The latest shameful incident on Saturday night, in which a taxi driver, registered with Ola, allegedly sexually assaulted a foreign national, who had booked a taxi from Gurgaon, highlights the danger of these unregulated taxi services.”
“Repeated incidents of sexual assault on women passengers by drivers registered with Ola and Uber, make it clear that these taxi aggregator companies are still not doing due diligence before registering drivers on their apps,” it added.
Asserting that women’s safety cannot be compromised with, it said all the state governments in the Delhi, Haryana and UP must show zero tolerance on this issue. “Ola and Uber, in particular, have repeatedly shown scant regard for the rule of law. They are neither ready to share the data of drivers and vehicles registered with them, nor are they serious in checking the legal documents and antecedents of drivers being registered with them,” it added.