Uber case grim reminder that nothing’s changed
The shocking incident of rape of a woman by a radio-taxi driver in the vehicle in Delhi a few days ago is a grim reminder of how little the ground situation has changed since the December 16, 2012, incident which aroused the collective conscience of the nation. The only fortunate difference between the two is that the victim in the latest case is alive and fighting.
This is the only consolation, since nothing else appears to have improved that can give women in Delhi (and elsewhere for that matter) confidence of their safety outside of their homes. While Delhi Police promptly nabbed the accused from his home in Uttar Pradesh, the Union Government asked all States to ban unauthorised radio-taxi services, officials of radio-taxi operator Uber are being interrogated and will be made the co-accused in case the police have enough material against them, the bigger question is not that of the action being taken or will be taken.
There are other factors that are worrisome and point to the utter laxity of authorities over the years and deep systemic defects. For instance, Uber had been operating its services (illegally, officials concerned now say) in the open in Delhi for a long while now. How is it that Uber got away with such blatant irregularity until nowIJ It cannot be the case that the State's transport authorities had been unaware of the illegality. Clearly, the transport department looked the other way. And this is not just the case with Uber; other illegally radio-taxi operators have been identified as well. The authorities have, after this horrific incident, cracked down on the offending taxi-service providers. This action should have happened long ago. It may be recalled that the private bus in which the December 16 incident had occurred too had been plying without permission. Clearly, no lessons are being learned.
The other systemic shortcoming relates to the accused driver. It is amazing that this man, who has at least three cases of rape or attempt to rape in police stations in Uttar Pradesh, had the temerity to operate so freely. Neither the Uber management nor the police authorities in Delhi appear to have known of the driver's antecedents. Had there been a national database, shared on real-time basis among all police stations or headquarters across the country, the accused driver would have got immediately red-flagged while tying up with Uber. Had Uber tried to check his background — which in a callous display of unconcern it did not — it would have found the pending cases against him. At least this incident should propel the Government to begin work on a national database of offenders, with particular emphasis on serial offenders.
While the crackdown on Uber and other radio-taxis services that have broken the law is understandable and even needed for now, the real solution to the problems that we face lies in reforming the system that allows such irregularities to take place. The Government must identify the people in the transport department and elsewhere who allowed the erring operators a free run all these years, and bring them to book. Finally, it seems that predators are not too fearful of the police in conducting heinous crimes. If criminals do not fear the police, then police departments should be having sleepless nights.