Daijiworld Media Network - Bengaluru

Bengaluru, Apr 9: A Bengaluru woman has alleged that an auto rickshaw driver reportedly belonging to Ola company abused and physically assaulted her in the middle of the street on the evening of Wednesday April 8.

In a Facebook post that has gone viral, Divya Sharma, a resident of Bengaluru addressed Ola and said, "Last evening your Ola Auto physically harassed me and tormented me in the middle of the street in Bangalore. He even kept repeatedly saying he is an OLa auto while he slapped and hit me several times. I want OLA to take a harsh and quick action against this auto driver. I am filing an FIR and if needed I can give them his Ola details. I will not hesitate in adding media houses to this conversation. Attaching his License plate for your reference - KA 09 AC 641."

She also posted a picture of the auto rickshaw driver's license details, which identified him as Rizwan Basha H B, a resident of Subhashnagar, Bengaluru. She also said that while the auto driver was repeatedly hitting her, none of the onlookers came to her rescue except a young girl at the end.

Explaining the incident in another post, addressed to 'Ola Cabs, onlookers and rickshaw walas', she said that she travels in auto rickshaws on a daily basis in Bengaluru, and on Wednesday, while waiting at the Domlur flyover, she hired an auto rickshaw who charged her extra Rs 30 despite being told that he should charge as per the metre. When she refused, he allegedly became rude and told her to get off the auto. She then pointed at the traffic police and warned that she would call them, which made the driver abuse her further. He also reportedly told her 'This is an Ola cab, samajh ata hai tujhe, Ola Ola!!" (This is an Ola cab, do you understand, Ola, Ola!!)

As the situation turned worse, she started dialling the police number on her phone, and it was then that he started hitting her. A crowd started to gather when she screamed for help. She managed to click a picture of his licence details, which aggravated him more and he hit her again. Divya said that the driver hit her four times and tried to drag her by the wrist.

Meanwhile, the police called her back but when she explained the situation, they allegedly told her to come to the police station and that they could not go to her. The onlookers too did not do anything to help her, she said.

It is to be noted that Divya did not hire the auto through booking on Ola app, which is the normal procedure, and instead hired it in the middle of the road. Ola, which has responded to Divya's complaint on Facebook, is yet to confirm if the driver indeed is from Ola or not, and promised to take action if indeed it was the company driver.