Big relief for Uber as Indian woman withdraws rape lawsuit in US

Uber driver Shiv Kumar Yadav, who allegedly raped a woman passenger in Delhi last December.

The woman who was allegedly raped and beaten by an Uber driver in Delhi, India, last December has withdrawn her lawsuit against the company, Reuters reports from San Francisco. She had filed the suit against Uber in a US federal court in January for failing to fulfill basic safety requirements.

Neither Uber nor the legal representatives of the passenger have disclosed the terms on which the case was voluntarily withdrawn from court.

In April, Uber had told the court that US federal law could not be applied across the globe, and that the accused driver was contracted to Uber BV in the Netherlands. Criminal proceedings against the driver will continue in the Indian Supreme Court, where a judge recently pulled up the defence counsel for trying to harass the victim by asking for her presence in court repeatedly.

The driver and alleged attacker, Shiv Kumar Yadav, is a convicted rapist. Uber was not aware of his criminal record when the December attack took place.

See: How the Uber rape could’ve been prevented at various stages, but wasn’t

Regulatory problems far from resolved

For Uber, India is its largest and fastest growing market outside the US. Uber faced few roadblocks in its initial India roll-out until the alleged sexual assault. This led to a ban in several Indian cities and close scrutiny of safety measures, driver screening, and liabilities for Uber as well as its main Indian rival, Ola.

Uber later gave in to a transport authority demand to apply for a conventional taxi license in India, after initially insisting that it wasn’t a taxi company. But its application fell short of what was required. The bone of contention is Uber’s insistence that it is just an internet platform connecting owners and drivers of cars with their customers, while regulators are equally insistent that it has to follow rules like any other taxi service. Uber has similar running disputes in several other countries, including China.

See: Uber nightmare: Chinese woman robbed, sexually assaulted in three-hour ordeal

The removal of the India case in the US comes as a big relief for Uber because it could have set a precedent for customers suing the company in its home country for acts committed around the world. However, Uber’s regulatory problems are far from resolved.

Uber has tied up with a company in India to do background checks on its drivers. It has also included a panic button in the Uber app – only in India – to persuade passengers and authorities that it is serious about safety.

(Source: Reuters)