An Indian court on Tuesday jailed a driver of US-based ride-hailing company Uber for life for raping a passenger, in a case that highlighted the dangers faced by women from violent sex attackers.
Driver Shiv Kumar Yadav received the maximum sentence after he was found guilty last month of the rape, kidnapping and criminal intimidation of the woman, who had hailed a ride home from a party in Delhi last December.
Yadav got his job with Uber with fake references, enabling him to hide his criminal record. The firm, valued at $50 billion this year, was banned in Delhi as a result and has only recently regained the right to operate after tightening driver checks.
“Keeping in view the facts and evidences in the case, I sentence Shiv Kumar Yadav, to rigorous life imprisonment,” Additional Sessions Judge Kaveri Baweja told the court.
The case revived memories of the horrific rape and murder on a moving bus of a young physiotherapist in Delhi in 2012, which became the subject of a BBC documentary that was banned by the Indian government this year.
The authorities fast-tracked Yadav’s trial to meet the public’s demand for swift justice.
“We are happy that justice has been delivered and that the process didn’t take that long,” said Madhur Verma, deputy commissioner with the Delhi police.
The victim, a woman working for an international consulting firm, fell asleep on the way home. Yadav then drove to a secluded place and raped her.
Yadav’s lawyer, D.K. Mishra, said he would appeal against the sentence in a higher court. “My client is innocent,” he told reporters after the sentence was passed.
