GURGAON: Two women were raped in a moving car in Gurgaon in the early hours of Thursday after they hired a cab home. The victims were returning home from a pub late on Wednesday night, but the driver diverted the car to Faridabad Road where two men barged in and raped them. One of the victims managed to escape and alert the cops following which the accused dumped her friend.
Five of the accused have been arrested. All are cab drivers who ferry call centre and private company employees.
The crime mirrors the rape of a 23-year-old in Gurgaon in March last year. In both cases, the victims frequented pubs, helping stag males gain entry.
Women took lift from cab for Rs 300
On Wednesday, the two women were leaving Empire Club in Metropolitan Mall on MG Road a little after midnight. They took an autorickshaw to Club 18 some distance away. Unable to find the taxi that customarily ferried them home three days a week, they “booked” a Toyota Corolla Altis that was passing by. One of the victims, a 27-year-old woman, told police that they had in fact agreed to pay Rs 300 for the lift. Instead, “the driver diverted the car to Faridabad Road where two men forced their way into the car at a traffic light”, the complaint said. The two youths then repeatedly raped them and a little later, called a friend who arrived in an Indica.
“The women were repeatedly raped till one of the accused got the cab to halt on Sector 57 Extension road to relieve himself. Just then, one of the victims jumped out of the car and ran towards a security guard nearby and borrowed his mobile phone to call police. The call was registered at the Police Control Room at 2.15am,” said Alok Mittal, commissioner of police, Gurgaon.
The escape gave the accused the jitters. They drove for 10-15 minutes before dumping the other victim on the road. Both women were taken to Gurgaon Civil Hospital where doctors confirmed rape.
Monitor pick up-and-drop services closely, police warn companies, BPOs
Taking a serious note of the lack of a regulatory authority to monitor the employee pick-and-drop facility used by corporates and the BPOs, especially regarding the threats posed to the women employees who travel by non-registered cabs at odd hours, the Gurgaon police have now mandated a slew of measures.
Invoking Section 144, the police have asked the companies to maintain a database of all employees, security personnel, cab drivers and contractual workers working with them to be accessed by the police as and when required.
The companies will now be required to hire security personnel and other contractual personnel from licenced agencies only. They shall ensure that women employees are not made to travel alone with the cab driver and a duly verified security guard is deployed in each cab carrying women staff during night hours.
The cab drivers have been instructed to choose the route in such a manner that as far as possible a woman employee is not the first one to be picked up or the last to be dropped. “The companies should ensure that during the night hours cab involved in transportation of women employees picks-up and drops such employees right at their houses, remains halted at the point where a woman employee has been dropped till she confirms about her arrival/ reaching at her residence/place of stay through a telephone call. Exercise effective check and control on the vehicle’s movement in order to check any unwarranted activities of the cab drivers, such as picking up strangers, straying away from the designated route etc. Get GPS system installed in the cabs used in the transportation of employees, especially of women employee,” read the Promulgation of the Order u/s 144 CrPC directions sent to BPOs.
Invoking Section 144 of CrPC, the police have asked the companies to maintain a database of all employees, including cab drivers.
