The Uber rape case

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Another horrifying rape story- A girl in Delhi was raped by an Uber cab driver named Shiv Kumar Yadav. Unlike the December 16 case, Delhi police investigated the case without any time lapse and took the driver to custody. The Delhi police also filed an FIR against Uber for not carrying out its driver’s background verification and not obtaining PSV badges. Uber, the US based cab service company is at fault for not adhering to the statutory requirements of India. ‘When in Rome, do as the Romans do’ is one lesson which the global cab company has to learn.  

Today, two weeks after the incident, the focus of the case has shifted from the rapist to the cab company. Will justice be served in the right manner? There are multiple pressing issues that has been completely neglected. What about conviction? The accused has not been punished, yet we are here fighting to get the cab company’s license revoked. For a heinous crime such as rape, the accused has to be pronounced with a severe punishment. If every action has an equal and opposite reaction, why doesn’t it apply to crime and punishment as well? The driver was already accused of raping a women last year, however was sent out of the jail on bail. He was also accused in multiple instances for various offences including robbery, molestation and possessing an unlicensed firearm. Despite all these crimes, he was set free. Doesn’t this show laxity in part of the legal system? If proper justice was served, he would have been inside bars and the girl would have never been raped.

 During investigation, the police found out that a 'character certificate' with the signature of an Additional Deputy Commissioner of Police (Southeast) was issued to the driver this August stating he was not involved in any criminal case. The document was clearly forged. This issue throws light to the fact that crimes can be camouflaged easily through a forged certificate.  We are advocating to get background checks of the drivers done, but how do we ensure validity of such checks? Unlike the US, there is no central repository of criminal records in India. Isn’t this something that the government should take as a matter of priority? Mere background checks will never serve its purpose unless there is a formalized system of ensuring its validity.

 One of my friend made a statement ‘The general tendency of the people is to oppose things which they don’t understand’, which I think is happening in the Uber rape case.  It’s easy to blame a cab company and get faster results (in terms of suspension or revoking the license) rather than trying to look into the root cause of the issue. Uber cannot be held responsible for all the other incompetency that exists in our system. Yes, police verification has to be done but at the same time, we cannot overlook into the more serious concerns that this case has raised. If Uber and several cab companies has to be suspended, why not also suspend the legislative system for accepting bail to a repetitive offender? Shouldn’t punishment be served to a person and not to the entire institution? We can just hope and pray that these concerned will be adressed in a right manner.

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