Kolkata police on Saturday arrested an app-based bike driver for allegedly threatening and sending pornographic videos to a doctor to cancel the ride, news agency PTI reported.

The doctor, who works at a private medical facility in Kolkataof Jadavpur, booked his ride around 8:00 PM from the hospital. She canceled the trip because the driver would be late.

After canceling the ride, the doctor allegedly received at least 17 calls from the bike driver, who threatened “serious consequences”. In addition to the threat, the driver allegedly sent sexually explicit content to the doctor on WhatsApp, police said.

“The doctor first lodged an e-complaint with the Commissioner of Police and CP Common Crime. She also sent an email to the cyber cell before lodging a complaint at the Purba Jadavpur police station,” the officer said. Police said the driver was arrested within hours of the victim’s complaint.

Recent incidents

On October 26, a woman from Delhi shared a harrowing story on Reddit that she received a rape threat from an Uber driver while she was traveling alone at night. The driver allegedly asked “If I were to do something to you in five minutes, do you think your mother could come and help you?”.

The taxi driver started asking her, “What were you doing so late at night? You know, if you were a guy, I wouldn’t have taken you at all.”

He then said that women should not commute alone or go out so late because if they are raped afterwards, the drivers are blamed. To get out of the situation, the woman said she was sharing her location with her mother, who could track her.

On October 14, a student from Manipur accused Delhi Police officials of apathy to her complaint of harassment against a taxi driver, who allegedly gave the man an “easy path to bail”.

During the trip, the driver from an online taxi aggregator constantly asked awkward questions. She claimed the driver held her against her will and drove to an isolated location with the intention of raping her. When she resisted the driver’s advances, he even threatened to kill her.

(With PTI inputs)