Taxi driver beaten, made to wear shoe garland over fare dispute

Dehradun: A taxi driver was allegedly assaulted, forced to wear a garland made of shoes and subjected to casteist slurs by a group of drivers in Lohaghat town of Champawat district after confronting him for “charging passengers a lower fare for a trip to Delhi”.In a complaint at Lohaghat police station on Friday, Prem Ram, a resident of Dungrabora in Gumdesh area, alleged the incident took place on Wednesday near Devradi bend while he was ferrying passengers to the national capital. He alleged that the accused also demanded Rs 50,000 from him and, when he said he did not have the money, they snatched his mobile phone, recorded a video of him wearing the shoe garland and uploaded it on social media.

They also threatened him against reporting the matter to police, he added.Based on the complaint, police registered a case against four men under provisions of SC/ST Act, IT Act and relevant sections of BNS. The accused were identified as Virendra Singh, Soban Singh, Harish Singh Bohra and Mohan Chandra.SHO Ashok Kumar said police were investigating the case and conducting raids to arrest the accused, who were at large.Demanding action against the accused, family members of Prem, who belongs to the Dalit community, submitted a memorandum to district magistrate Manish Kumar. The DM assured them that action would be taken after an investigation. Kumar also directed the transport department and police to scrutinise fares charged by commercial vehicles, particularly along the Delhi and Dehradun routes.