New Delhi, March 16: The Delhi police has picked up on Uber and has issued a notice to the global taxi service company asking it about the passenger safety measures adopted by the cab aggregator. According to a report in The Hindu, Delhi police wants to know what steps has Uber taken to ensure that the cabs registered with the company are driven by registered drivers only and not by any impersonators. Meanwhile, there were reports on Thursday that Uber and Ola cab drivers were planning to call an indefinite strike and said that they would switch off their devices on March 19.

The police notice comes in the wake of March 9 incident when an Uber driver tried to kidnap a woman passenger who had booked the vehicle from Kundli in Haryana up to her home which is in Delhi's Rohini area (situated in north-west Delhi). The woman, who managed to escape informed police that the taxi she has taken had a white number plate whereas the norm is such taxis have a yellow number plate. She also added that the windows of the car were tinted.

Quite a number of shocking details have emerged from the woman's narration of the event to the police.  She claimed that when he got in the cab, the driver's photo did not match the image that had appeared on her cellphone. The driver was drunk and he drove the car along the route, alleged the woman passenger adding that he made unwanted advances towards her. The police then searched for and arrested the accused driver from Sonipat on March 10.

The Hindu quotes  DCP (North-West) Aslam Khan saying,"We have sent a notice to Uber to inform us about its passenger safety mechanism and how it checks whether the cab is being driven by an impersonator and how it deal with such cases.” Uber India has not commented on the issue so far.

DCP Aslam Khan also said that such incidents were a security concern and advised the passengers to verify the driver's details before they step into the car. He said that in case of any mismatch or suspicion, the passenger should immediately complain to the police or report to the cab company. Delhi police have requested women in Delhi to download the security app named "Himmat Plus" so as to enable police in case they required urgent help. The app scans the taxi, autorickshaw and vehicles QR codes and verifies the details of vehicle.

There were reports on Thursday that Uber and Ola cab drivers were planning to call an indefinite strike and said that they would switch off their devices on March 19. The planned strike is said to be a nationwide strike and is expected to affect the transport services in metros like Mumbai, Delhi and Bengaluru.

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Mar 16, 2018 06:21 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).