Agencies
KANPUR, DECEMBER 9
The cabbie accused of raping an executive in Delhi last weekend has two rape and an equal number of molestation cases against him, the first one dating back to 2003. Even a cursory check of police records could have perhaps prevented Uber, the app-based taxi hiring service, from putting repeat sexual offender Shiv Kumar Yadav on its rolls because the 32-year-old’s criminal past speaks for itself.
Yadav’s name entered the police books in 2003, when he was 21, for allegedly molesting and assaulting a girl in Mainpuri in Uttar Pradesh. From that year to 2009, he was booked several times under the goonda act and charged with carrying illegal firearms. On December 13, 2011, he was arrested for allegedly raping a young passenger at Chhatarpur in Delhi. The girl had hired his cab to take her home from a dance bar in Gurgaon but certain inconsistencies in her statement led to Yadav’s acquittal in November next year because the crime couldn’t be established beyond reasonable doubt.
Yadav struck again in 2013, allegedly raping a girl in Mainpuri. He was arrested after a case was registered with Elau police station but insufficient evidence set him off the hook.
The repeat offender was getting more daring since the law of the land had failed to keep him in shackles. He was charged early this year with molestation and assault of a woman in the Elau area of Mainpuri, where he had already faced eight separate criminal charges. Again he escaped with a rap on the knuckles because of lack of evidence.
But his time was up when he allegedly raped in Delhi an executive returning home at night last weekend.
Sweets were distributed in Yadav’s Ram Nagar village in Mainpuri after news poured in that he was arrested and there’s no escape this time for him.
Women offered home-made halwa and thanked god at the Shiv temple because several of them are either victims of Yadav’s atrocities or related to those who he had terrorised.
Mother Ganga Shri, 70, said the family would not allow anyone to help her son legally. “A mother doesn’t expect her son to commit such a demonic act. In the past, we did our best to bring him on the right path. It is time now for him to pay for his crime.”
Villagers said women dread to come out of their homes after dusk if he was in the village. “He is a compulsive sex offender. You won’t find a single household in the village whose woman he hasn’t tease or molested” said Kushun Singh, a farmer. “I know no less than 26-27 cases that never reached police.”
A police officer said corroborated the farmer’s remarks. “Police had barred him from entering Ram Nagar. Though people are terrified, they seldom lodge any criminal complaint because they believe it would bring a bad name to the village.”
Yadav, the son of an inter-college principal, was a brat since childhood. Villagers said he used to bully his parents into giving him money and expensive gifts.
“Six months ago, he sneaked into the village, pinned down a girl and blackmailed his father to buy him a car. When his father refused, he climbed a neem tree with a noose around his neck ... in a Sholay-like drama. His father relented,” said Tehsildaar Singh, a villager. Months later, he used that car to rape the 25-year-old girl in Delhi.
“His father wanted him to pursue engineering. He was a good student till class 10,” said Mahendra Yadav, his former teacher.
But he chose a criminal path — drugs, women and petty crime.
Home Minister Rajnath Singh on Tuesday said he has asked state governments and union territories to ban all web-based radio taxis following one such taxi's driver raping a woman passenger in the cab in Delhi.
Rajnath Singh's announcement came as opposition leader Anand Sharma pointed out that there is a conflict in the government as Transport Minister Nitin Gadkari has spoken against the ban on Uber taxi services.
Rajnath Singh also said that Delhi Police are examining "legal liability of Uber taxi services" in the case.
"The ministry of home affairs has advised the state government and union territories to ensure that the operations of web-based taxi services are stopped and such service providers which are not licensed with the state governments or union territory administration are prohibited to operate till they get registered themselves with the administration," Rajnath Singh said, making a statement in the upper house.
Congress leader Anand Sharma, however, questioned how Gadkari said shutting the services is not a solution.
"Government must clarify... your cabinet colleague has criticised the ban on Uber," said Sharma, indicating towards Gadkari.
Gadkari, talking to reporters in parliament complex Tuesday, said banning Uber, an international taxi-booking service, does not make sense, and added that modern services like these should be encouraged and if there is some lacuna, it should be rectified. "It doesn't make sense to ban services. Tomorrow, if something happens on a bus, we can't ban that. Similarly, if something of this sort happens on a plane, that too cannot be banned," Gadkari told reporters here.
"Modern concepts like these are being implemented in countries like the UK, the US and others, and we too must encourage it," the transport minister said on being asked whether these application-based services should be banned in the country.
Uber taxi services has been banned in Delhi after the 25-year-old woman, who hired a taxi though the service, was raped by the driver Friday night.
Rajnath Singh informed the house that the woman reported that while sitting in the taxi, she dozed off for a while and suddenly realised that the taxi was parked at an isolated place and the driver was trying to molest her in the back seat.
He said when the woman tried to raise an alarm, the driver threatened her of physical injury and sexually assaulted her. After committing the crime, the driver dropped her near her home around 1 am, threatening her again against disclosing the incident to anyone.
"The government of India strongly condemns the dastardly act. It will be ensured that all necessary steps are taken to bring the offenders to justice," said the home minister.
Opposition members, meanwhile, asked the government what steps are being taken to ensure that all cars with radio taxi services are probed.
"Someone went to Uber with transport department certificate, and licence, what will they do? What is your mechanism? How are you going to ensure that all radio taxi services, which have thousands of cars, are probed? Create a data bank," said Anand Sharma.
Giving out some steps being taken by the government to ensure safety of women, the home minister said the GPS system has been made mandatory for all taxis.
He also said that the number of CCTV cameras has been increased and the government has identified 255 isolated locations and increased the security there.
"Delhi has the highest conviction rate in the country. The national capital has maximum number of fast-track courts," the home minister added.
