An Uber driver has been jailed for life for raping a passenger in his car in Delhi last year.
Driver Shiv Kumar Yadav, 32, was also convicted of criminal intimidation and kidnapping at an Indian court today.
The Uber driver took a 26-year-old woman to a secluded area and raped her after she booked the Uber cab to take her home.
She subsequently filed a lawsuit against the service in a U.S. court, which was settled out of court.
ADVERTISEMENT
The Delhi government later banned Uber and other app-based taxi companies for many months, accusing them of failing to carry out proper background checks on the drivers.
Judge Kaveri Baweja sentenced Yadav to ‘rigorous imprisonment for life which shall mean imprisonment till his remaining natural life.’
Yadav wiped away tears as the judge read out his sentence, which is the longest possible jail term for rape, AFP news agency reported.
Yadav’s lawyer, DK Mishra, said he would appeal against the sentence in a higher court.
He told reporters: ‘My client is innocent’.
ADVERTISEMENT
The issue of sexual assault has been thrown into the spotlight in India following the gang-rape and murder of a 23-year-old student on a bus in Delhi in December 2012.
The case caused global outrage and triggered mass protests that led to a tightening of laws on sexual violence.
Yet some say the tougher laws have have failed to bring down the number of rape cases and a number of high-profile crimes have taken place since then.
Only last month, two children were raped on the same day in the capital.
ADVERTISEMENT
Also a Swiss couple were camping near a forest in Gwalior when a group of men beat the husband and raped his wife.
