Idukki (Kerala) | Kerala Transport Minister K B Ganesh Kumar on Tuesday said that licences of all the taxi drivers, who are accused of harassing a Mumbai-based tourist at Munnar here recently, will be cancelled once all of them are caught.
The minister also termed as "goondaism" the harassment of the female tourist by the taxi drivers and said that it has been going on for some time.
He said that he has instructed the Road Transport Officers of the area to promptly take action in the matter.
"It is illegal. It should not happen again," Kumar said.
The tourist, identified as Janvi, an assistant professor, posted a three-minute video on her social media account detailing how she was allegedly harassed by local taxi drivers when she tried to travel by an online cab.
She said her trip to Munnar was "absolutely breathtaking" but added that she would not visit Kerala again due to the incident.
In the video, she said that as she was preparing to leave Munnar, her host informed her that online taxis such as Uber and Ola were not allowed there because of opposition from local taxi unions.
She then contacted her Uber driver and asked him to meet her at another location so that others would not notice him.
"While we were loading our bags, five or six men suddenly appeared, apparently they had been following us. They started threatening our cab driver, saying he could not take us," she said.
The minister said that Uber has not been banned in Kerala or India, and their drivers were also workers just like taxi drivers.
"Basically, the problem is the goondaism in Munnar. This goondaism happened when KSRTC introduced the double-decker buses. But, we dealt with it legally. We will now deal with all such issues legally," Kumar said.
The police had registered a case under sections 126(2) (wrongful restraint), 135(2) (criminal intimidation), and 3(5) (common intention) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS).
Two taxi drivers were arrested and two police officials were suspended in connection with the incident on Monday.
According to the woman, when she had called the police for help, they sided with the taxi drivers.