Uber Driver In India Sentenced To Life In Prison For Raping Passenger In 2014

A court in New Delhi, India, sentenced a driver of U.S.-based ride-hailing company Uber on Tuesday for raping a woman passenger in the capital city in 2014. The incident raised concerns over women’s safety and lack of proper background checks of employees hired by companies providing transport services in India.

Shiv Kumar Yadav was found guilty last month of the rape, kidnapping and criminal intimidation of the woman who hailed a ride home from a party last December. The verdict was reportedly announced by a special fast track court set up to deal with cases of criminal offences against women.

The incident took place on the night of Dec. 5, 2014, when the woman, a financial executive, booked a cab using Uber’s mobile app. The woman told police in her complaint that she fell asleep and on waking up, found herself in a secluded area. The cab driver raped her and later threatened to kill her if she spoke about the incident to anyone.

Police nabbed the driver two days later in Mathura, a town about 100 miles south of New Delhi, after a search operation.

In its 99-page judgment, the court said that the victim was reminded of the gang-rape of a medical student in New Delhi in December 2012 after Yadav threatened to insert an iron rod in her body, according to local reports.

In the 2012 case, a 23-year-old was brutally tortured and gang-raped in a moving bus in the country’s capital in December that year. She later died of internal injuries at a Singapore hospital, and the case triggered a mass movement in India with millions calling for an overhaul of the country's justice system.

Following the December 2014 incident, the Delhi High Court banned Uber and several other web-based taxi firms and ride-hailing services for a few months in the capital city, accusing them of failing to carry out adequate driver checks.