A female student was allegedly sexually assaulted buy an auto driver in Chennai, she shared the ordeal on Twitter on Monday tagging the authorities. The student of Asian College of Journalism in Chennai recalled the incident, sharing the details of the auto driver and the difficulties she faced in reporting the incident and seeking action.
“I’m a student journalist at @ACJIndia, Chennai. An @Uber Auto driver named Selvam ,sexually assaulted me by pressing my right breast, near Ibis OMR Hotel, when my friend and I returned from East Coast Madras to the hotel. @PoliceTamilnadu,” the woman wrote.
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The incident occured when her friend was making the payment and she was stepping out of the auto. She screamed to “fight back” and tried to stop him but the driver managed to escape somehow. She immediately called the police but there was no response, the student said.
An inspector along with another man came to the hotel to investigate and asked the alleged victim to wait until morning to file an FIR as there was “NO lady officer at the station”, she highlighted.
The woman was told that it was “an order by the government” when she was about the lady officer. She further claimed that she was not stopped from going to the police station to file an offline FIR but still managed to go to the Semmencherry Police Station.
“He was also not letting us go to the police station to file an offline FIR. But we still managed to go to the Semmencherry Police Station, along with two hotel employees. Also, the station in charge did not let us enter the police station as women are NOT allowed during night,” she wrote on the Twitter thread.
She further revealed that she had to file the complaint outside the police station.
“I had to file the complaint outside the station. Also, the station incharge gave us an A4 sheet to write an application instead of an FIR. (Usually, the Police ask you to file an application instead of an FIR, to suppress the matter and to avoid the work load). @vijaypnpa_ips,” she wrote.
She further added that she was asked to visit the Lady Police Officer today post 9 am and the police denied sharing her number with them.
“As of now I’ve filed an online FIR. @whl181 @NCWIndia,” she wrote. The case was registered in Semmanchery Police Station. After searching for the auto driver, the police seized his auto and also CCTV footage following the arrest of the accused. She thanked the relevant authorities for taking the necessary actions.
Uber also reached out on the thread expressing its concern on the incident and sharing that it had escalated the issue to the relevant team for action.
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