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Grab is assisting police following the alleged rape of a passenger in Malaysia, TechCrunch

Grab is assisting police following the alleged rape of a passenger in Malaysia

Uber’s business is going through a period of turmoil in the U.S. right now, but Grab — its main rival in Southeast Asia — is under pressure itself after a driver in Malaysia was arrested on suspicion of raping a passenger he drove home via the ride-hailing service.

Media in Malaysia, the country where Grab originated, report that police have reprimanded a 30-year-old man for six days after a woman reported that she was raped around 4am on Sunday near her house in Seri Kembangan, Selangor state. According to a police statement disseminated to press, the victim did not put up a fight because she was inebriated. The driver was part of the GrabCar private car service, which is comparable to Uber X.

Grab confirmed it has eliminated the driver from its platform. It told TechCrunch that it is cooperating with police and that it will suggest support to the alleged victim and her family. The rigid added that it plans to introduce a fright button within its passenger app — the feature is presently limited to its driver app. (Grab’s total statement is included at the bottom of this story.)

Grab recently celebrated its fifth anniversary. Its service is present in seven countries across Southeast Asia, where it claims forty five million user downloads, 900,000 drivers and Two.Five million daily rails. It has raised close to $1.Five billion from investors including SoftBank and Tiger Global, according to data from Crunchbase. It is reported to be gearing up to raise another $1.Five billion.

Today’s incident recalls the tragic rape of an Uber passenger in Fresh Delhi, India, in December 2014. Local authorities subsequently suspended the Uber service in the city for a period, while the U.S. hard instituted a series of features designed to increase passenger safety, including trip-tracking and an SOS button.

Today’s news is the 2nd criminal incident against female passengers in Malaysia of late. Last month, an Uber passenger was robbed during a rail. She said suffered a miscarriage one week after the incident.

Here’s the statement from Sean Goh, country head of Grab Malaysia, in utter:

We regret that there has been an incident reported on eleven June where a GrabCar driver had allegedly sexually assaulted a passenger. The news is deeply distressing and our priority now is to assist and provide support to the passenger and her family, as well as fully cooperate with the police and relevant authorities. The police investigation is ongoing, and we will not be able to share further details of this case. We have a zero tolerance policy to any crime and serious misconduct by drivers, and have instantaneously eliminated the driver from our platform, pending completion of police investigations.

The safety of both our passengers and drivers is, and always will be, a priority for Grab. I am truly sorry that we have let down our users and community in this example, and humbly ask our passengers and drivers to please permit us to keep improving the safety and reliability of our service. We have in place rigorous face-to-face driver screening and criminal background checks – and we are committed to keep investing in driver screenings and training, and other safety initiatives. The Grab driver app presently has a PDRM ‘panic button’ for drivers to instantaneously contact the police in emergency cases. We will be expediting our plans to extend this feature to the Grab passenger app as well.

Grab is assisting police following the alleged rape of a passenger in Malaysia, TechCrunch

Grab is assisting police following the alleged rape of a passenger in Malaysia

Uber’s business is going through a period of turmoil in the U.S. right now, but Grab — its main rival in Southeast Asia — is under pressure itself after a driver in Malaysia was arrested on suspicion of raping a passenger he drove home via the ride-hailing service.

Media in Malaysia, the country where Grab originated, report that police have reprimanded a 30-year-old man for six days after a woman reported that she was raped around 4am on Sunday near her house in Seri Kembangan, Selangor state. According to a police statement disseminated to press, the victim did not put up a fight because she was tipsy. The driver was part of the GrabCar private car service, which is comparable to Uber X.

Grab confirmed it has liquidated the driver from its platform. It told TechCrunch that it is cooperating with police and that it will suggest support to the alleged victim and her family. The stiff added that it plans to introduce a scare button within its passenger app — the feature is presently limited to its driver app. (Grab’s total statement is included at the bottom of this story.)

Grab recently celebrated its fifth anniversary. Its service is present in seven countries across Southeast Asia, where it claims forty five million user downloads, 900,000 drivers and Two.Five million daily rails. It has raised close to $1.Five billion from investors including SoftBank and Tiger Global, according to data from Crunchbase. It is reported to be gearing up to raise another $1.Five billion.

Today’s incident recalls the tragic rape of an Uber passenger in Fresh Delhi, India, in December 2014. Local authorities subsequently suspended the Uber service in the city for a period, while the U.S. hard instituted a series of features designed to increase passenger safety, including trip-tracking and an SOS button.

Today’s news is the 2nd criminal incident against female passengers in Malaysia of late. Last month, an Uber passenger was robbed during a rail. She said suffered a miscarriage one week after the incident.

Here’s the statement from Sean Goh, country head of Grab Malaysia, in total:

We regret that there has been an incident reported on eleven June where a GrabCar driver had allegedly sexually assaulted a passenger. The news is deeply distressing and our priority now is to assist and provide support to the passenger and her family, as well as fully cooperate with the police and relevant authorities. The police investigation is ongoing, and we will not be able to share further details of this case. We have a zero tolerance policy to any crime and serious misconduct by drivers, and have instantaneously eliminated the driver from our platform, pending completion of police investigations.

The safety of both our passengers and drivers is, and always will be, a priority for Grab. I am truly sorry that we have let down our users and community in this example, and humbly ask our passengers and drivers to please permit us to keep improving the safety and reliability of our service. We have in place rigorous face-to-face driver screening and criminal background checks – and we are committed to keep investing in driver screenings and training, and other safety initiatives. The Grab driver app presently has a PDRM ‘panic button’ for drivers to instantaneously contact the police in emergency cases. We will be expediting our plans to extend this feature to the Grab passenger app as well.

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