Threatening woman passenger: Cabbies denied bail

BENGALURU: Amid growing number of incidents involving taxi drivers attached to several private cab service providers, raising safety issues especially lone woman passengers, the Karnataka High Court in one such case has sent a strong message by dismissing the anticipatory bail plea of four taxi-men accused of harassing, and threatening to kill a woman techie right in front of Mangaluru Airport, in June this year.

The four accused facing criminal charges in the case registered by Bajpe Police Station, Mangaluru for the offence punishable under Sections 354, 506 and 509 of IPC, had approached the high court seeking anticipatory bail on the apprehension of their arrest by the police.

According to the complainant, she was harassed at the moment she wanted to get in to the cab booked by her husband. It is her case that a group of taxi drivers chased her and used abusive language, threatened to kill her and tried to outrage her modesty.

“Taking into the circumstances of the alleged incident, which is stated to have taken place just outside the airport at Mangaluru, this is not a fit case in which discretion vested under Section 438 of Cr.P.C could be exercised in favour of these petitioners, at this stage, Hence, petition is dismissed,” the High Court said in its order dated 9 November 2015.

Following the alleged incident, the 27-year-old IT professional had initially complained to the women's cell of Mangaluru police that she was harassed by taxi drivers at the Mangaluru International Airport.

The techie had flown from Bengaluru to Mangaluru, returning to visit her ailing father-in-law. Once she reached, according to her complaint, she was chased after being harassed by a group of taxi drivers when she went on to board a cab booked by her husband. The cab booked by her family provided cheaper services compared to other existing taxi services at the airport. Earlier there were huge protests by the several taxi unions against the introduction of cheap cab services by Ola in Mangaluru.

The accused group had even chased away the driver, warning him not to pick the woman passenger from even outside the airport premises. After going through the unruly behaviour, she returned to her place, and by then her father-in-law had already passed away. The police had zeroed on in the accused taxi driver with the CCTV footage available at the airport.