The three women who allegedly assaulted a Uber taxi driver at Vytilla in Kochi on Wednesday being taken into custody by the police. (Photo: DC)

Kochi: Three women who hailed an online share taxi allegedly assaulted its driver after he turned down their demand that the rider boarded before them should alight.

The Maradu police later arrested Angel Baby (36), Clara Shibin (27), both natives of Kannur, and Sheeja M. (30), a resident of Pathanamthitta, based on the complaint of driver Shafeeq (37), a Kumbalam native, who was hospitalized soon after the incident at Vytilla at noon.

According to cops, the trio availed UberPool, Uber's on-demand carpooling service launched in the city barely a week back. When the cab came, another rider who was picked up from Kadavanthra was already there.

They said the other rider asked the trio where they were proceeding to. The women then wanted the driver to oust him, but he refused saying it was a shared ride.

The argument soon escalated, and the three brutally assaulted the driver, injuring him in the head and tearing away his shirt. Passers-by rushed to the spot and took them to the nearby traffic police kiosk, they said.

The injured driver was first taken to a nearby private hospital and then shifted to the Government General Hospital. The police later arrested the women.

A case was taken against under sections 341 (wrongful restraint), 323 (voluntarily causing hurt) and 294 (B) (use of obscene words) of the IPC among others. The trio was later released on station bail.

Meanwhile, the online cab aggregator said it would extend all help to the driver in proceeding with the case.

“What has been described is totally unacceptable,” a Uber spokesperson said.

“Violence in any form is against the spirit of our community guidelines, and we have barred the riders from accessing the app. We are cooperating with the law enforcement authorities and assisting the driver partner as best as possible.”