Karnataka HC Orders Ola To Pay INR 5 Lakh To Woman Allegedly Harassed By Cab Driver

The Karnataka High Court has directed Ola’s parent entity ANI Technologies to pay a compensation of INR 5 Lakh to a woman who was allegedly sexually harassed by one of its cab drivers in 2018.

The court observed that he would be considered an employee under the Sexual Harassment of Women at Workplace (Prevention, Prohibition and Redressal) Act, 2013 (POSH Act).

A single-judge bench of Justice M G S Kamal passed the order on Monday (September 30).

As per the case, in August 2018, a woman had taken an Ola cab to her office in Bengaluru when the driver allegedly stared at her through the mirror and watched an obscene video on a mobile phone, positioning it so that it was visible to her. The woman filed a police complaint and later moved the high court, seeking action under the POSH Act.

The High Court ordered Ola’s Internal Complaint Committee (ICC) to investigate the sexual harassment complaint filed by the petitioner on September 30, 2018, and complete the process within 90 days, as per the provisions of the POSH Act.

In addition to the compensation, ANI Technologies is required to pay INR 50,000 to cover the woman’s litigation costs.

Inc42 has reached out to Ola for comments on the development. The story will be updated based on the response.

“This is a much-needed decision. While it addresses harassment under the PoSH Act, it sets an important precedent for recognizing drivers as employees. The court’s detailed scrutiny of employer responsibilities opens the door for broader protections for gig workers across India,” said Shaik Salauddin, National General Secretary of the Indian Federation of App-Based Transport Workers (IFAT).

Besides, the court also directed OLA to uphold Section 16 of the POSH Act, ensuring the confidentiality of the individuals involved in the case. The Karnataka State Transport Authority has also been instructed to continue its investigation into OLA on related matters, with a 90-day deadline for completion.

This comes at a time when the government is taking several security measures for gig workers. Recently, labour and employment minister Mansukh Mandaviya has said that aggregator platforms will soon have to register details of their gig workers on the e-Shram portal.

Incorporated in 2021, the e-Shram portal is a national database of unorganised workers, including migrant workers, construction workers, gig and platform workers.

Earlier in August, auto and taxi drivers across Delhi NCR protested against cab aggregators like Ola and Uber.

Further, women gig workers associated with Urban Company went on a strike at the startup’s Bengaluru office to protest against its new terms of reference in June this year. At the time, the gig workers claimed that the work conditions at the company were “horrific” and forced “thousands of partners to work under slavery like situations”.

Notably, Fairwork India rated Ola, Uber, Dunzo, and Porter as the worst-performing startups on its index on working conditions of gig workers.