Uber Cab Driver Accused Of Raping Delhi Woman, Uber to Face Legal Action

A Uber cab driver has been arrested for allegedly raping a woman passenger on Friday night. The driver in his 30s had been driving under Uber for six months. 

According to Delhi police, the rape accused is a repeat offender and was arrested in sexual assault case in 2011. 

The accused will go before a New Delhi court today. 

Delhi police will take legal action against Uber for failure to run checks on the driver's background and whether the car was equipped with an adequate GPS. 

What's more shocking is that Uber's terms of service don't necessarily protect from third party providers. Uber calls it self a technology service that matches riders with drivers, and not a transportation company. 

"Uber does not guarantee the suitability, safety or ability of third party providers. It is solely your responsibility to determine if a third party provider will meet your needs and expectations. Uber will not participate in disputes between you and a third party provider. By using the services, you acknowledge that you may be exposed to situations involving third party providers that are potentially unsafe, offensive, harmful to minors, or otherwise objectionable, and that use of third party providers arranged or scheduled using the services is at your own risk and judgment. Uber shall not have any liability arising from or in any way related to your transactions or relationship with third party providers," reads Uber's terms. 

"Every violation by Uber will be evaluated and we will go for legal recourse," Madhur Verma, New Delhi police deputy commissioner. 

The incident comes just after the company has been valued $40 billion and had a $1.2 billion financing rounds. 

Responding to the incident, Uber said: "We became aware of the incident this morning. Safety is Uber's highest priority and we take situations like this very seriously. We are working with the police as they investigate, and will assist them in any way we can to determine what happened. It is also our policy to immediately suspend a driver's account following allegations of a serious incident, which we have done. In India, we work with licensed driver-partners to provide a safe transportation option, with layers of safeguards such as driver and vehicle information, and ETA-sharing to ensure there is accountability and traceability of all trips that occur on the Uber platform."