'Kisi ko bhi call karlo, cab nahi rukegi': Patna woman shares scary Bengaluru cab experience after driver refused to stop vehicle, cancel ride

Booking a cab that arrives in a few minutes, lets you sit in an air-conditioned environment, and keeps you relaxed seems like the best way to travel. However, your comfort through the journey is absolutely dependent on the driver. If he is polite, accommodating and behaves professionally, one can heave a sigh of relief, but if he is angry, authoritative and threatening, it could make one want to flee after opening the door mid-ride.

Especially for women in India who take a cab, any time of the day can turn into a challenging adventure whose failure or success depends on their courage to speak out. Recently, a woman from Patna, Ritika Suryavanshi booked a flight from Bengaluru to the airport.

Taking to Instagram she shared a video detailing how an argument over an AC cab quickly turned tense and threatening after the driver allegedly refused to stop the vehicle, even when requested multiple times and threatened with calling the police.

The woman shared how her father had advised her against speaking out publicly about this, but she wanted her female followers to stay alert and know how to react in similar situations while travelling alone.

A threatening cab ride

The woman said she had booked an AC cab through Rapido while travelling to Bengaluru airport for a flight to Patna. She explained how she typically checks the "vibe" of a cab when she enters and this one had slightly tinted windows despite them not being allowed in India, which seemed like a "red flag."

Soon after sitting inside, she politely asked the driver to switch on the AC, which led to him questioning if she had booked an AC cab. She then checked the app and showed him the booking details clearly mentioning “AC Cab."

While he initially refused to switch on the AC since he couldn't verify her AC cab booking, he later said he couldn't do it because it was not working. She told him, “Look, whether your AC is working or not, that is not my problem. That is your issue to deal with."

After this, the woman simply asked him to cancel the ride if the AC wasn't working but things became serious when he refused to stop the cab. “He literally said, “The cab isn’t going to stop,"" she recalled.

The woman said she instantly felt unsafe hearing the driver refuse her request. "Kisi ko bhi call karlo, cab nahi rukegi," added the driver. She then called a friend nearby and shared her live location before threatening the driver to call the police.

This was when he stopped the cab in the middle of the road. Quickly she stepped out and contacted customer support through the app to cancel the ride. “It was 12:00 PM, the middle of the day, in Bangalore. Yet, for a brief moment, I felt utterly unsafe," she said. She also said that the incident took place in the afternoon, had a similar situation had developed at night, things could have been very different.

"If you are a girl and you are watching this video, daro mat aise situations mai, dimag se kaam lo," she advised. She said women should stay strong mentally and physically with a serious expression on their face, even if they feel scared internally, which is normal in such situations.

Social media reactions

Sadly, such experiences are not a one-off for women. At any time of the day, in a cab or public, there are times when people cross the boundaries and make others feel uncomfortable. Many users in the comments shared how they had faced similar situations with cab and auto drivers in Bengaluru.

“I had the worst experience too they are such insane Bengaluru drivers don’t even care whether you feel safe or unsafe … always keep staring at you with upper front mirror always tries to scam you after knowing you are outsider," shared one.

Another shared how she asked her Rapido driver to follow Google maps since he was turning to the wrong location. However, the driver stopped at a random place and the woman got out. "Then I contacted Rapido and complained against him," she added.

One woman revealed how she was literally threatened by her Rapido driver after she requested to switch on the AC. "The driver denied the AC request, I told him mai complaint kar rahi hu aapki, then he said jo karna hai karo, abhi aapki ride baki or aapke sath kuch bhi ho sakta hai toh chup chap baithe raho," she wrote.

"Their audacity is because they are confident no action will be taken," added another.