Introduction
Ride-hailing apps have changed the way people travel. With a few taps, passengers can book a cab or bike, see the driver’s details, track the journey and reach their destination. But app-based travel can also create safety concerns. A passenger may be alone with a driver they have never met before, inside a vehicle controlled by someone else. Recent incidents involving allegations of sexual harassment and inappropriate behaviour during rides have raised questions about passenger safety.
The issue is not limited to one company or one type of vehicle. Whether the ride is booked through a cab aggregator, bike-taxi service or another app-based transport platform, passengers have legal protections when they face harassment, assault, threats or other unlawful conduct.
What Safety Duties Do Ride-Hailing Platforms Have?
The Motor Vehicle Aggregator Guidelines, 2025 provide a regulatory framework for app-based transport aggregators. The guidelines include several requirements relating to passenger safety.
For example, the guidelines require applicable vehicle location and tracking systems to function properly. They also provide for in-app location tracking.
The guidelines require an in-built mechanism to monitor whether the driver follows the route shown in the app. If the vehicle deviates from the route, the app should signal the control room, which should then connect with the driver and passenger.
The guidelines also require aggregator to ensure passenger safety, particularly for children, women and persons with disabilities.
They further require a mechanism through which passengers can verify whether the driver undertaking the journey is the same person who was registered and verified during the onboarding process.
This shows that passenger safety is not merely an internal customer-service issue. It is also addressed through the regulatory framework for aggregators. However, the 2025 guidelines are a framework that State Governments may adopt. Their application should therefore be considered alongside the rules applicable in the relevant State.
What Happens If a Driver Sexually Harasses a Passenger?
Sexual harassment during a ride can amount to a criminal offence. Under Section 75 of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, 2023 (BNS), sexual harassment includes certain conduct such as:
- Unwelcome physical contact and advances involving explicit sexual overtures;
- A demand or request for sexual favours;
- Showing pornography against a woman’s will and
- Making sexually coloured remarks.
Depending on the conduct involved, the offence can carry imprisonment and/or a fine.
Therefore, inappropriate touching, unwanted sexual advances or sexually coloured remarks should not automatically be dismissed as merely “bad behaviour”. Depending on the facts, they may have criminal consequences under the BNS.
What If the Driver Touches or Assaults a Passenger?
Not every incident will fall under the same criminal provision. The applicable offence depends on what actually happened.
Section 74 of the BNS deals with assault or use of criminal force against a woman with the intention of outraging, or knowledge that the act is likely to outrage, her modesty. It carries imprisonment of not less than one year and up to five years, along with a fine.
This distinction matters because unwanted physical contact or assault can have legal consequences even when the conduct does not fall under the specific definition of sexual harassment.
What If a Passenger Is Prevented From Leaving?
A passenger may also have protection under provisions dealing with wrongful restraint and wrongful confinement.
Section 126 of the BNS deals with wrongful restraint. It applies when a person voluntarily obstructs another person from proceeding in a direction in which they have a right to proceed.
Section 127 deals with wrongful confinement. It applies when a person is wrongfully restrained in a way that prevents them from moving beyond certain limits.
Therefore, if a driver deliberately prevents a passenger from leaving the vehicle or confines them against their will, the circumstances may attract criminal liability. The exact offence will depend on the facts of the incident.
What Should a Passenger Do During an Unsafe Ride?
The first priority should always be personal safety.
If a passenger feels threatened, they should try to reach a safe or populated location rather than confront the driver unnecessarily.
Where possible, passengers can:
- Share their live location with a trusted person.
- Use the app’s emergency or SOS feature.
- Note the vehicle registration number.
- Save the booking and driver details.
- Contact someone they trust.
- Report the incident to the platform.
- Approach the police where appropriate.
If recording the incident can be done safely, audio, video, screenshots, messages or call records may later assist an investigation. However, passengers should not put themselves in greater danger merely to collect evidence.
Can the Passenger Report the Driver to the App?
Passengers can report misconduct through the platform’s complaint or safety mechanism.
This can be useful even when the passenger also approaches the police. The platform may hold information relevant to an investigation, such as booking details, driver identification information and journey records.
The Motor Vehicle Aggregator Guidelines, 2025 also require aggregators to cooperate with lawfully authorised authorities investigating an accident or incident involving an onboarded vehicle or driver.
However, internal action by a platform, such as suspending or removing a driver, does not replace criminal proceedings where an offence may have occurred.
Can a Passenger Go Directly to the Police?
A passenger does not have to depend entirely on the platform’s internal complaint system.
Where the conduct may amount to a criminal offence, the passenger can approach the police and report the incident.
The applicable legal provisions will depend on the facts and evidence available.
For offences against women, the Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita, 2023 (BNSS) also contains procedural safeguards concerning the recording of information relating to certain offences against women.
Therefore, a passenger’s legal remedy can exist independently of whatever disciplinary action the ride-hailing company chooses to take.
Why Is Evidence Important in Ride-Related Complaints?
A ride booked through an application creates a digital record that may become important evidence.
The following information may help establish what happened:
- Booking confirmation
- Driver profile
- Vehicle registration number
- Route information
- Location history
- Payment records
- Messages exchanged through the app
- Communications with the platform
- Audio or video evidence, where safely obtained
Passengers should therefore avoid deleting relevant information after an incident.
Does the Platform Become Criminally Responsible for the Driver’s Conduct?
A ride-hailing company and an individual driver are legally distinct actors. If a driver commits a criminal offence against a passenger, the driver’s personal criminal liability will depend on the facts of the case.
Whether the platform itself can face liability is a separate legal question. It may depend on factors such as its statutory obligations, knowledge of the conduct, contractual relationship with the driver, regulatory duties and whether it failed to comply with applicable requirements.
Therefore, simply saying that an incident occurred “on a particular app” does not by itself establish criminal liability for the company.
What Does This Mean for Women Using Ride-Hailing Services?
The growth of app-based transport has made travel more convenient, but passengers should also understand the safety mechanisms available to them.
The law does not require passengers to tolerate harassment simply because an incident occurs inside a vehicle booked through an application.
Depending on the conduct, the BNS contains provisions dealing with sexual harassment, assault, criminal force, wrongful restraint and wrongful confinement.
At the same time, the 2025 Motor Vehicle Aggregator Guidelines include requirements relating to driver verification, tracking, route-deviation monitoring and cooperation with authorities.
What Is the Bigger Legal Issue?
The larger issue is no longer simply whether ride-hailing apps are convenient.
It is whether the digital transport ecosystem provides meaningful protection when something goes wrong during a journey.
The law can impose criminal responsibility on individuals who engage in harassment or violence. The regulatory framework also places safety and compliance responsibilities on aggregators.
For passengers, understanding these rights can make it easier to respond when a routine ride becomes unsafe.
For platforms, passenger safety means more than providing an emergency button. Driver verification, monitoring, response mechanisms and cooperation with law enforcement are important parts of responsible digital transport governance.
What Should Passengers Remember?
A ride booked through an app does not take away a passenger’s legal rights.
If a driver engages in sexual harassment, unwanted physical contact, assault, threats or wrongful restraint, the passenger can seek help through the platform and, where appropriate, approach law enforcement.
The BNS provides criminal provisions that may apply depending on the conduct, while the Motor Vehicle Aggregator Guidelines, 2025 establish important safety and compliance requirements for aggregators.
