Journalist alleges assault by female passenger in Uber, claims she was racially abused

A Mumbai-based woman journalist Monday alleged that she was physically assaulted and verbally abused by an Uber co-passenger while taking a pool ride in the city.
An FIR against the assaulter has been registered by the police, the scribe said.

Narrating her ordeal, Ushnota Paul said the fellow passenger turned “hostile” from the start of the journey and started yelling at the driver insisting that she be dropped first. But when Paul intervened, the woman proceeded to verbally abuse her.

She further claimed that the co-passenger used racial slurs against her when she refused to give a reaction. “I tried to click her picture and she immediately snatched it away from me and threatened to break it. I know she would’ve so I didn’t try clicking anymore. Before she got down from the cab, she physically attacked me, grabbed me by my hair, tore off clumps of hair, scratched my face,” Paul wrote in a series of tweets.
According to the tweets, the assaulter escaped into a building in Urmi Estate after she hopped off the cab. Paul also claimed that Uber refused to divulge details of the attacker to the Mumbai Police citing ‘customer privacy’.

Describing the incident as “deeply upsetting”, an Uber spokesperson said the cab aggregator was ready to support Mumbai Police’s investigation into the case.

“What’s been described today is deeply upsetting and is completely against our community guidelines. The co-rider in question cannot access the app. We’ve reached out to law enforcement authorities to offer any information that could be helpful in their proceedings. We stand ready to support their investigation into this incident,” the spokesperson said.