An Uber driver was arrested late on Saturday evening over harassment charges after a female medical student jumped from his speeding cab at Shahrah-e-Faisal.
The incident took place near Aisha Bawany School on main Shahrah-e-Faisal within the limits of Saddar police station. Police officials said that the girl did not sustain any injuries from the jump because the car was slowing down when she chose to leap off it.
Following the incident, a score of people gathered on the spot. The crowd later took the victim and the Uber driver along with them to the Saddar police station. Police officials also inquired about the incident and registered a First Information Report (FIR) under Section 354 on behalf of the victim against Zulfiqar, the Uber driver.
The female student who jumped off the cab informed the media later that she felt unsafe when driver went on a different route and even refused to take the ride-sharing firm’s telephone calls upon her request. Recounting the incident, the girl said that she had booked a ride from her university and had to jump out of the cab fearing a sexual assault. “I had no option but to jump,” she told the media. “”He kept on smiling sleazily at me but I ignored it. He then not only took a wrong U-turn but when I reported him to Uber and Uber telephoned him, he did not pick up their phone calls,” she added.
According to Saddar SHO ShabbirHaider, the girl H* aged 22 is a student of fourth year in the medical faculty at the Dow Medical College. “H* jumped from a car under mysterious circumstances,” he claimed. Haider said that in her statement, she said that she had leaped from the car because she was being harassed.
The police took the driver into custody and recorded his statement too. The driver while defending himself told the police that the young woman had booked a cab from main University Road for Saddar area but she continue to change her destination while on the way.
“She changed her destination multiple times and then she jumped when I was about to take a turn on her demand,” he said in his recorded statement. “I am not telling a lie as everything is on the record including the changes in the destinations,” he said. Zulfiqar further claimed that he did not have a criminal record and the online cab service had all his data.
Police said that the incident was being investigated. They said that they planned on summoning officials of Uber, a popular online cab service, in this regard.