Day after Delhi rape, another Uber driver sexually assaulted a woman in his cab in Boston

Just a day after Uber’s head of global safety pledged to ‘build new safety programs and intensify others’, a driver registered with the company has been charged with raping a young woman in Boston. According to The New York Times, a assault took place on 6 December, just a day after a woman in Delhi was raped by a Uber driver. NYT reports, “Prosecutors in Cambridge, Mass., on Wednesday charged an Uber driver with sexually assaulting a woman seeking a ride, the latest in a series of attacks on people who use the ride-hailing service.” The accused, Alejandro Done, 46, reportedly picked up the young woman identifying himself has a Uber driver and offering her a ride. He then rode to a secluded spot where he beat up the woman and raped her in the backseat. [caption id=“attachment_1856707” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  The Uber app. Image for representational purposes only. AFP[/caption] NYT states: “Mr. Done is charged with rape, assault to rape, kidnapping, and two counts of assault and battery.” Boston Globe reported that the driver insisted that the woman should pay by cash and told her that he will drive her to an ATM to withdraw cash. Once the woman withdrew money from the ATM the driver took her to, her drove to a secluded area where he trapped the woman and then assaulted her. The driver was identified and traced using Uber’s driving records. “Done allegedly picked up the woman on Tremont Street in Boston at around 7:30 p.m., on Dec. 6. She had been out with friends and summoned an Uber driver to pick her up from the residence and take her to her home in Cambridge, according to investigators,” reports the paper.  Uber told police that Done had cleared the background checks carried out by the company. NYT reported that the company has condemned the incident and has declared they will provide all assistance required to investigate the case. “This is a despicable crime and our thoughts and prayers are with the victim during her recovery,” Uber spokesperson Kaitlin Durkosh said in a statement to CBS Boston. “Uber has been working closely with law enforcement and will continue to do everything we can to assist their investigation.” The Boston Globe notes, shockingly, the accusation of rape follows three other complaints of  molestation and inappropriate behaviour lodged against Uber drivers in the same area this month. In fact, one of the women said that an Uber driver offered her money and ’touched her inappropriately’ in the car. Concerns about safety in Uber have been mounting across the world. While the company has mostly been dismissive about the allegations in the past, they recently promised to re-evaluate and boost their safety provisions. TechCrunch notes that in a bleak phase for the company and despite concerns of safety, the ride sharing service has raised funding worth $1.2 billion this month after the company was valued at $40 million.