Leaked Data Reveals That Uber Blamed India’s Faulty Background Checks For Rape In One Of Their Delhi Cabs

By Priyadarshini Malavia Updated July 11, 2022 4:49 PM

According to a trove of leaked data, Uber employees in San Francisco panicked after a lady customer was raped in a cab by the cab driver in Delhi on December 5, 2014. The corporation quickly claimed that the accused Shiv Kumar Yadav committed a second sexual harassment case because of the “flawed” Indian system of background checks (BCGs) on drivers. The Indian Express, which obtained the hacked documents, reported that an unmistakable effort was made to blame local officials.

According to internal messages, Mark McGann, Uber’s then-Head of Public Policy for Europe and the Middle East, wrote on December 8 that they were in “crisis negotiations right now”. He further added that the Indian driver had a licence, and the issue appears to be rooted in the local licencing system.

In an email to one of his employees, MacGann said that were going through the process of platinum-plating their background checks in other locations and countries because of the heinous incident in India. Assertions were made that the official State system and not Uber, was at fault. In Delhi, the rape resulted in a “worst-case scenario” for Uber. Uber cabs were outlawed by the government, and it took seven months and an intervention from the Delhi High Court for them to be back on the road.

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The Guardian combed through more than 1,24,000 leaked confidential documents to discover how the company violated rules, deceived cops, exploited violence against drivers, and discreetly influenced governments during its massive international growth.

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The documents highlight the company’s unethical activities, which helped it become Silicon Valley’s most famous product. According to the report, the leak covers a five-year period when Uber was led by co-founder Travis Kalanick, who tried to force the cab-hailing service into cities throughout the world by breaking rules and taxi regulations.