A girl student of Asian College of Journalism in Chennai has been allegedly sexually assaulted by an Uber autorickshaw driver.
The Uber auto driver then fled, leaving his vehicle behind after she raised an alarm.
The incident happened on Sunday night when she was returning to a city hotel with a friend.
The victim girl Ishita Singh took to Twitter to narrate the incident.
Ishita Singh said that she had booked an Uber autorickshaw ride from a restaurant to a hotel in Semmancheri. She alleged that as she and her friend exited the vehicle after arriving at their destination, the driver inappropriately touched her.
“I’m a student journalist at @ACJIndia
, Chennai. An @Uber Auto driver named Selvam ,sexually assaulted me by pressing my right breast, near Ibis OMR Hotel, when my friend and I returned from East Coast Madras to the hotel.@PoliceTamilnadu,” she tweeted tagging Tamil Nadu Police.
The incident occurred while Ishita’s friend was making the payment and she was stepping out of the auto. To fight back, she screamed. She and her friend also tried to stop him but somehow he managed to escape. Then, Ishita immediately called the police but there was no response, Ishita wrote in a subsequent tweet.
“After waiting for 30 mins, an inspector along with a man came to the hotel to investigate. He asked us to wait till the morning to file an FIR , as there was NO lady officer at the station. “It’s an order by the government” he said, when asked about the lady officer. He was also not letting us go to the police station to file an offline FIR. But we still managed to go to the Semmencherry Police Station, along with two hotel employees. Also, the station in charge did not let us enter the police station as women are NOT allowed during night,” her tweets further read.
Ishita also posted photos of the autorickshaw in which she and her friend were travelling along with the screengrabs of her Uber trip. She has also shared her ride transaction details and the name of the driver.
Meanwhile, replying to her Twitter thread, the Tambaram Police Commissionerate said a case has been registered and a search is on for the accused.
