A court in India has handed a life sentence to a taxi driver found guilty of raping a female passenger in Delhi eleven months ago.
Shiv Kumar Yadav has been handed the maximum possible penalty after being found guilty of rape, criminal intimidation and kidnapping.
Shiv Kumar Yadav took the 26-year-old woman to a secluded area and raped after she took what she thought was the precaution of booking a journey home with Uber in December. The incident led to a temporary ban on Uber and other online taxi operations in the Indian capital. Uber apologised and promised to “do better” when conducting driver checks.
The victim also filed a lawsuit against Uber in a US court, which was later settled out of court.
Speaking after sentencing Yadav, Judge Kaveri Baweja told the court in Delhi: “He will serve regressive imprisonment, which shall mean imprisonment till natural death.”
His defence counsel is expected to launch an appeal, which would be heard in a higher court.
The issue of sexual assault has been high on the agenda in India since a 23-year-old student was gang-raped and murdered on a bus in Delhi in December 2012. The case prompted global outrage and a tightening of laws on sexual violence.
However, these tougher laws have failed to bring down the number of rape cases. Last month there was outrage in the capital after two children were raped on the same day. Earlier in the month, a child was raped, slashed with a sharp object and left unconscious near a railway track.
