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Goa’s women taxi drivers allege harassment

Published

10 years ago

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Goa's women taxi drivers

Panaji: Three women taxi drivers formerly employed with Goa’s first all women radio taxi service have alleged violation of labour laws by the Goa Tourism Development Corporation (GTDC), a state government-run corporation, which has outsourced taxi operations to a private firm.

The women taxi drivers have alleged that at the time of recruitment last year they were informed that they had been employed by the corporation, but once the taxi service started in October last year they realised that their employer was actually a private firm.

“We have been cheated into joining this job. We were told we were working for the government but when the taxi service started it wasn’t the case. We were being harassed by the outsourced company which is subjecting us to extended work hours without compensation,” said Shamali Naik.

Naik is one of three taxi drivers from a fleet of 10, who have alleged harassment.

“It had started as a taxi service for women, but soon after being launched we were asked to drive all-male groups of passengers. It was unsafe,” she said, adding that a complaint has been filed with the state labour authority.

Speaking to reporters on Saturday GTDC chairman Nilesh Cabral rubbished the allegation, claiming Naik, along with the two other women taxi drivers, had been sacked for misconduct.

“We sacked them because they refused to pay back the money they earned while making trips,” Cabral said.

“At no point did we say that they were being recruited by the corporation. We do not run the taxi service. It has been outsourced by us to the private company,” he said.

The women’s taxi service had been launched with much fanfare by the tourism ministry in October last year, with the objective of sending a signal that Goa was a safe tourism destination for women.

The GPS-enabled service was launched with 10 women drivers with professional licences, who were also trained in martial arts and basic knowledge about Goa’s tourism landscape.

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What monkey fled with a bag containing evidence in it: Read full story

Published

3 years ago

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May 5, 2022

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The court, generally, considers a person who commit a crime and the one who destroys the evidence, as criminals in the eyes of law. But what if an animal destroys the evidence of a crime committed by a human.

In a peculiar incident in Rajasthan, a monkey fled away with the evidence collected by the police in a murder case. The stolen evidence included the murder weapon (a blood-stained knife).

The incident came to light when the police appeared before the court and they had to provide the evidence in the hearing.

The hearing was about the crime which took place in September 2016, in which a person named Shashikant Sharma died at a primary health center under Chandwaji police station. After the body was found, the deceased’s relatives blocked the Jaipur-Delhi highway, demanding an inquiry into the matter.

Following the investigation, the police had arrested Rahul Kandera and Mohanlal Kandera, residents of Chandwaji in relation to the murder. But, when the time came to produce the evidence related to the case, it was found that the police had no evidence with them because a monkey had stolen it from them.

In the court, the police said that the knife, which was the primary evidence, was also taken by the monkey. The cops informed that the evidence of the case was kept in a bag, which was being taken to the court.

The evidence bag contained the knife and 15 other important evidences. However, due to the lack of space in the malkhana, a bag full of evidence was kept under a tree, which led to the incident.

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