The Delhi government has clearly overreacted on the Uber driver rape case by banning all mobile app- based cab services in one stroke. What have the cab services got to do with the rape incident?
It just reminds us of the classic cliche - throw the baby out with the bath water.
Of course, Uber should have had better systems and processes to check the drivers' antecedents and records so that it could have reduced chances of having a bad guy driving the car. Even if they had stringent background screening processes, theoretically none could have avoided a potential rapist sneaking in to the system.
So banning all mobile app-based cab services is like banning all airlines for a pilot misbehaving with a woman passenger.
The government has lost the wisdom.
The government has essentially pinned the blame on the easy target here, which is an international cab booking company or scores of young entrepreneurs-backed, venture capital-funded companies like Ola Cabs and Taxi For Sure.
The government is clearly ill-advised.
Now we hear that Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh has asked all state governments to ban Uber or such cab services in all states where they are operating.
There can’t be a response as daft as this.
Former home secretary and now BJP MP RK Singh has indicated that there is a case for implicating Uber as a co-accused in the rape case—another classic case of overreaction.
The question is simple. If services like Uber and Ola were illegally plying in India, then what were transport departments doing? They should have caught them much earlier and asked them to comply with government rules. Why were they waiting for a rape incident to wake up and take action?
Now should we disband all transport departments because of this lapse?
