'Cheap TRP hai...' Journalist, who claimed harassment by Delhi Uber auto driver, faces sexist jibes on Twitter

'Go ahead...' That was the shocking response that a woman journalist got from an Uber Auto driver when she warned him about going to complain about his harassment. The brazen demeanour of the autorickshaw driver and the failure of Uber's security measures have once again raised question marks on cab aggregators' safety protocols.

But beyond that, the bigger issue that came to the fore is the victim shaming and character assassination that followed on social media.

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The woman journalist was allegedly sexually harassed by an Uber auto-rickshaw driver during a ride to her friend's place in southeast Delhi's Malviya Nagar from her residence in New Friends Colony. Taking to Twitter, the journalist narrated her ordeal. She claimed, "I took an auto from my home to a friend's place. After a while, I noticed that the driver was looking at me through the side mirrors of the auto, precisely at my breasts. I shifted a bit towards the right and wasn't visible in the left side mirror."

"He then started looking into the right side of the mirror. I then shifted to the extreme left and wasn't visible in any of the mirrors. He then started looking back again and again to see me. I first tried using the safety feature of Uber, but to no avail."

She said the audio wasn't clear the first time she dialled the number. "I then redialled the number but couldn't hear the audio due to poor network," she alleged. "I was contacted by Uber support after several hours and filed my complaint," she said.

Even as the Delhi Commission for Women took note of the incident and issued a notice to the Delhi Police and Uber, while one section of users on social media has been seeking more accountability from can aggregators, others resorted to victim shaming.

One social media user wrote: "Did the uber driver molest the journalist with his eyes? We are turning into a Banana republic where random people can be thrown in jail based on a women's own mental perception rather than actual reality."

Another asked, "How dare you publish the face (of the auto driver)!! How do you know she's not lying?? Were you present there?"

And while some termed the allegations as a "cheap attempt to get TRP", others wondered if what she was speaking was the truth just because "she is a woman". 

Meanwhile, the Delhi Police has registered an FIR against the autorickshaw driver under IPC section 509 (word, gesture or act intended to insult the modesty of a woman) for misbehaving with a woman journalist on March 1. Efforts to trace and nab the accused are on.

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• social media
• victim shaming
• Twitter