Kolkata: Uber cab driver arrested for allegedly 'masturbating' in taxi

One 25-year-old woman, who works in a shopping mall, claimed that she boarded the cab from Elgin Road area in Kolkata on July 8 at 7 pm.

The woman said that  she noticed through the looking glass that the driver unzipped himself and had started to masturbate.

The woman left the cab immediately at Rashbihari area in Kolkata and lodged a complaint against the driver at the Bhawanipur police station.

Pintu Yadav, the accused Uber driver was arrested from Tiljola area in Kolkata on Monday night.

Police charged him under IPC sections 354 (Assault or criminal force to woman with intent to outrage her modesty) and 506 (Criminal intimidation).

However, he was produced at the court on Tuesday and was granted bail.

The incident comes just days after a woman in the national capital had accused a TaxiForSure driver of indulging in vulgar act while he was dropping her from South Delhi's Saket to Faridabad.

She had alleged that the drive was masturbating while driving her.

The woman took her ordeal to social networking sites Facebook and Twitter on July 3.

Uber was in news last year for the alleged rape of a woman by a driver in Delhi, triggering an outrage against the online app-based cab service. 

Meanwhile, Uber in a statement after the incident said: "Safety and accountability is built into the Uber experience, before, during and after a ride, including dedicated customer support teams who can quickly look into any issue, from riders or drivers. In this case, we immediately connected with our rider, suspended the driver partner and assisted the local authorities with all necessary information required for their investigation."

"In fact, the rider was satisfied with our immediate assistance and action and continues to frequently use Uber post this alleged incident," it said in a statement.

(Reporting by Deepayan Sinha)