Driver on hire assaults passenger in Sector 6 for coming late

In a curious case, here is a story of a cab driver allegedly hitting a 36-year-old passenger for not letting him do his job at the appointed time. According to the police complaint, Sharad Agarwal called for a rental cab service to pick him up from a restaurant at 9th Main, 13th Cross, Sector 6. The date was February 8, at around 11pm. He had finished partying with his friends and didn’t want to drive home drunk. However, this turned out to be a mistake.

Sharad had booked for a driver from DriveU, a company that provides drivers to people on hire. The firm had sent one Rajesh C. However, the driver had reached the spot half an hour earlly, and Sharad left the spot half an hour late. This angered the driver who allegedly mouthed expletives. Unable to hold back, Sharad mouthed some expletives of his own, including Bh…ka. This prompted the driver to hit him with this hand and the bracelet (kada) he was wearing.

“He was impatient,” Sharad told Residents Watch. “Agreed, I was late by 30-40 minutes, but he had also come half an hour earlier, which made him wait for more than an hour. But nobody has the right to get physical. He took the car key and asked me for additional money. When I denied, he was not returning my key. After some verbal exchange, he threw the key on the road and assaulted me. My nose and lips began to bleed and there were minor cuts on my tooth as well.” The assault lasted for less than four minutes, but the damage was done. “It’s such a scary scenario. We are calling for a driver to be safe on the roads, but they end up thrashing us.”

Sharad, a resident of Electronic City, is a self employed individual who was shocked by this attitude. He immediately went to the HSR police station and filed a complaint right away. The cops have charged the driver for intentional insult (504), causing hurt (IPC 323), and using weapons to injure Sharad (IPC 324).