The family of the Uber rape victim demanded life imprisonment for driver Shiv Kumar Yadav, who was convicted for rape by a Delhi Court on Tuesday. “I am happy with the verdict and hope that the punishment is also severe. He deserves nothing less than life imprisonment,” the victim’s father told The Hindu .
The victim’s father claimed that he had not shared the news with his daughter till Tuesday evening. “I will reveal it to her later tonight,” he said, adding, she was deliberately kept away from any news related to the case.
“We have taken care to ensure she is not repeatedly reminded of the horrific incident,” her father said. He tried his best to keep his daughter out of the court proceedings and took it upon himself to make rounds of the court.
“We have stopped discussing the incident and the court proceedings with her. She does not have much idea of how the case has been progressing,” her father said.
Soon after the court judgement, DCP (North) Madhur Verma took to Twitter to laud the verdict as “justice delivered”.
He also posted an old but much discussed picture of Assistant Commissioner of Police (ACP) Shweta Singh Chauhan holding the accused Shiv Kumar soon after his arrest.
Back then, he had termed the scene as “poetic justice” drawing applauds from most quarters but also flak from some. Speaking to The Hindu on Tuesday, Verma recounted that the picture was reassuring that women cannot be targeted.
He, however, said that was not the intention when the woman officer held the accused. “She was the supervisory ACP in the case. Since the accused was also under physical threat from an angry public, Chauhan had taken it upon herself to protect him.”
He said it was rewarding for the investigating team to see justice being delivered in a time-bound manner. “Shiv Kumar was accused in two previous rape cases but had gone scot-free in one of them. It would have set a bad example if he escaped punishment this time.”
“A woman was raped in a cab often hired by many in the city. We were under severe pressure due to the expectations from the public,” said Mr. Verma, adding that personally the incident had left him tremendously stressed.
Police said it was a challenge to gather strong evidence against Shiv Kumar as there were no eyewitnesses and the accused had tried to tamper with evidence. “For the last 10 months, we followed the case on a day-to-day basis,” said Mr. Verma.
He said initially there was not much support from Uber as their support system is based in the US. “But, later they helped the probe by providing necessary inputs such as the routes taken by the driver,” said the officer.
Uber Speaks
Taxi service provider Uber, whose driver was found guilty of raping a passenger, welcomed the court verdict and said they were pleased that the accused Shiv Kumar Yadav was brought to justice.
In a statement, Uber India said, “Sexual assault is a terrible crime and we’re pleased he has now been brought to justice.”
They claimed that they have made improvements since the incident. “Safety is a priority for Uber and we've made many improvements in terms of new technology, enhanced background checks and better 24/7 customer support as a result of the lessons we learned from this awful case,” said Amit Jain, President, Uber India. “That said, Uber can always do better, which is why we are continually looking for ways to improve safety before, during and after the ride,” Mr. Jain added.
