In 2011, driver Shiv Kumar Yadav allegedly did the following: picked up a fare who was heading home from her job at a bar, altered the route, and raped her; he spent seven months in jail before he reached a settlement with his accuser and was acquitted. Today, Yadav appeared in court, having been accused a second time of raping a passenger, this time on Friday night as an Uber driver. Now, both Uber—which has operated in New Delhi for 12 months—and the Delhi government are coming under fire. The Transport Department has banned Uber in New Delhi and surrounding urban areas on the heels of the alleged crime, the New York Times reports.
Uber CEO Travis Kalanick vowed his company would help "bring the perpetrator to justice," but he also shifted some of the blame back to Indian officials, noting Uber would work with the government to establish clear background checks that are "currently absent in their commercial transportation licensing programs." The Times notes, by way of the company's blog, that such background checks on US shores are pretty involved, with the last seven years of a would-be driver's criminal record reviewed; the Verge reports that both federal and county checks are now required. Police have said no background checks were performed on Yadav, and a GPS device hadn't been installed in his car, as required for commercial taxis by law. The BBC reports people tried to assault Yadav as he was led out of court by police; he has been remanded into custody for three days. (More Uber stories.)
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