Uber Accessed Delhi Rape Survivor's Medical Records 'Illegally': Report

Vice President for Asia Eric Alexander reportedly travelled to Asia in 2017 to obtain her medical records.

(Photo: iStock)

In December 2017, almost three years after the Uber rape incident in Delhi, the survivor in the case filed a new defamation suit in the US after the cab aggregator 'investigated her'. The survivor settled after she received compensation from Uber – in both the original compensation case filed in 2015, and the defamation suit for invasion of privacy.

Data from The Uber Files – internal emails and documents obtained by The Guardian and shared with the Indian Express – which is a part of the International Consortium of Investigative journalists – revealed that Uber's top executives 'illegally' accessed her medical records.

A 27-year-old woman was raped by an Uber driver on 5 December 2014 in Delhi in December 2014 – leading to the cab aggregator's ban in the national capital, and the eventual exit of Uber co-founder and former CEO Travis Kalanick.

The driver, 32-year-old Shiv Kumar Yadav, convicted by a Delhi court, is serving life imprisonment. The case, and the horrific incident, is back in news following the ICIJ's investigation.

What Happened in US?

While the original suit filed by law firm Wigdor LLP in 2015, on behalf of the survivor in the US, for harassment and torture, the second suit named Uber CEO Travis Kalanick and Vice President for Asia Eric Alexander in 2017.

The suit detailed how Alexander travelled to New Delhi, to “illegally” obtain the victim’s private medical records, reported The Indian Express. The records were prepared by physicians who examined the survivor after the rape.

“Eric Alexander brought into the narrative of rape denialism which focuses on whether a victim had been drinking, what she was wearing, or whether she knew the alleged rapist, rather than the very real physical, emotional and financial toll that rape takes on a victim,” the plea stated, the newspaper reported.

According to The Indian Express investigation, Alexander reportedly showed the survivor's medical records to Kalanick, and other executives, who speculated whether Ola – still Uber's competitor in India – was behind the 'sabotage attempt.'

Her files reportedly remained in the Uber headquarters for a full year before Recode, a technology news and analysis website, exposed the same in June 2017 – forcing Alexander to quit. Two weeks later, on 21 June 2017, Uber saw the exit of Kalanick.

In March 2018, Wigdor LLP filed a class action suit against Uber by giving details of rape/sexual assault against 11 women in the US (also called Jane Doe):

“Because of Uber’s failure to prioritize the safety of female passengers, thousands of women are at risk of being trapped in a vehicle and subjected to sexual harm at the hands of Uber drivers who have a duty to ensure their safe transport."

(With inputs from The Indian Express)