Uber, Ola accountable if women harassed?

The Supreme Court on Thursday decided to put in place a regulatory regime for making public transport authorities, including app-based taxi services like Uber and Ola, accountable for breach of women safety.

A bench of Justices Madan B. Lokur and Deepak Gupta accepted the suggestions of amicus curiae and senior advocate Indira Jaising for having such a regime to check sexual harassment of women when they travel in public transport buses or appbased taxis.

Ms Jaising pointed out that Uber was banned in London after it refused to subject to court jurisdiction. A similar provision should be set up in India so that such companies can’t evade legal action if incidents of rape, sexual harassment take place in cabs and by drivers. She said there was no uniformity among states to deal with sexual harassment in public transport. She also wanted a proper victim compensation scheme.

The bench asked the Centre to respond to the suggestion.