She Got An Auto Driver Arrested, Claiming He Beat Her. CCTV Proved She Was The Attacker Instead

The woman filed a case against the auto driver who was immediately arrested. The police, having seen the only evidence, is contemplating booking a case against her now.

The 35-year-old's complaint against an auto driver last week claiming he barged into the basement of her apartment, abused, spat on her face and even molested her could boomerang on her.

The victim filed a complaint with the East division police last Thursday, and cops arrested the accused, 40-year-old Sampath, on Tuesday.

bangaloremirror

However, CCTV footage of the incident taken from a CCTV camera in the apartment showed the woman raising her hand first and pushing the driver hard after he refused to allow the doors of the elevator to close by keeping the lift button outside pressed. Following his arrest, Sampath told the police to check the CCTV footage and find out who initiated the scuffle; while the woman is seen pushing the accused twice and provoking him, he takes his finger off the elevator button and tries hitting back.

When contacted, deputy commissioner of police (East) N Satheesh Kumar confirmed the incident and told Mirror, "The CCTV footage will be viewed again, carefully, to clarify certain doubts." "Based on what we have even seen on camera, we will enquire with the neighbours and the driver again in order to initiate action against the woman," said Byappanahalli police who have registered the case.

"We have seen numerous incidents where women file complaints and accuse auto and cab drivers of assault despite them raising their hand first; most come back to us a few days later wanting to withdraw their complaints. Nobody has the right to take law into their hands. In this case, the woman was the first to complain accusing the driver of misbehaving with her by abusing and assaulting her. She also gave us the vehicle's registration number, based on which the driver was arrested," said an investigating officer.

"Now, the driver, who is from a poor background with a critically-ill father, has claimed that he did not want to invite more trouble by raising his hand on a woman first - especially knowing the consequences"

reuters

"We are verifying his claims and will enquire with neighbours and witnesses, before initiating action against the complainant," the officer added. The victim, who is a homemaker residing at an apartment on Kaggadasapura Main Road, hired an auto on Thursday night to Domlur and back.

According to her complaint, she had agreed to give an additional Rs 30 as waiting charges apart from the meter charges. The entire journey fare including the waiting charges was Rs 250.

Since she did not have the exact change, she gave him Rs 300 and asked for Rs 50 back, she said. "The driver suddenly demanded Rs 450, which I refused to give. He began abusing me and then forcibly entered my apartment and even stopped the elevator by force. He also threatened that he would bring local people to attack me. Then he physically attacked me, and in self-defence I pushed him," the victim told Mirror before we were privy to the CCTV footage. However, the woman, who has been staying in the city for the last six years, claimed that it was the driver who beat her first. The incident occurred between 8.30 pm and 8.45 pm in the basement parking of the apartment, with a male resident as witness.

The auto driver has been booked for criminal intimidation, wrongfully restraining a person, intentional insult to provoke breach of peace, outraging the modesty of a woman, and voluntarily causing hurt, according to the police. All efforts to reach the victim a second time upon viewing the footage ¡ª which she incidentally refused to share ¡ª failed, as she did not answer repeated calls.