New Delhi, messo al bando il sistema Uber dei taxi dopo l’ultimo stupro

Uber, il sistema lanciato nel 2010 a San Francisco e ora sparso in mezzo mondo (mette in contatto direttamente clienti e taxi), è stato messo al bando a New Delhi. La cuusa: un tassista Uber ha violentato una cliente. L’articolo dal Guardian:

Uber banned in Delhi after taxi driver accused of rape

Authorities in India capital ban online taxi service with immediate effect and blacklist company as man due to appear in court following allegation

The Delhi city government has banned Uber from operating in the Indian capital after a passenger accused one of its drivers of rape, dealing a fresh blow to the reputation of the online taxi service.

Uber is banned from operating in the capital with immediate effect and the company will be blacklisted from providing transport services in future, a government statement said.

“[The] transport department has banned all activities relating to providing any transport service by www.uber.com with immediate effect,” it said.

Friday’s alleged attack on the woman has dealt a huge blow to the reputation of the company, which claims to put passengers’ safety first.

Local media reports say it failed to do a background check on the driver, who faced a separate rape allegation in 2011 and was acquitted the following year.

The 32-year-old man will appear in court on Monday after police tracked him down and arrested him on Sunday in his native Uttar Pradesh state, where he had fled.

Deepak Mishra, the Delhi special commissioner, said early investigations showed GPS had not been installed in the taxi and police background checks were not conducted on the driver.

But Uber said it had complied with city regulations. The company’s chief executive, Travis Kalanick, said background checks were “currently absent in [Delhi’s] commercial transportation licensing programmes”.

“What happened over the weekend in New Delhi is horrific. Our entire team’s hearts go out to the victim of this despicable crime,” he added.