Woman narrowly escapes kidnapping attempt by Careem captain

KARACHI: Alina Saeed, a resident of Karachi, claims to have narrowly escaped an alleged kidnapping attempt by a driver of the country’s top ride-hailing app Careem.

“[The Careem driver] was trying to take me to a deserted road of Korangi creek and refused to stop … I had to pull the hand break physically from the back seat at the intersection of Khayaban-i-Ittehad and Korangi Creek road,” Saeed posted on Facebook, while calling out the indifference shown by the company.

Saeed also posted images of her bruised arms, claiming that driver hit her in an attempt to get back into the car.

Further, she stated that she did not receive an apology from Careem, which only stated that “the driver involved is not associated with Careem anymore”.

“I was lucky that I am strong enough that I could fight a man on physical level for around 15 minutes,” she wrote while warning Careem users to be extra vigilant when using the app.

Similar cases involving Careem have been reported in the past.

In June this year, another user claimed she was almost kidnapped by a Careem driver as well. She hailed a ride by Careem and a black Vigo showed up, out of which several men stepped out and tried to force her into their four-wheeler.

“I knew something was shady but I was totally baffled and wanted to know what was happening so I asked him yeh kya horaha hai? Kon hain aap? [what is happening? Who are you?” After I questioned them, the men backed off and one of them said  ‘oh sorry hum bas funny video bana rahe thay. Ap kal morning show pe zaroor dekhain gi. [Oh, sorry. We were just making a funny video. You can see this in a morning show tomorrow.]”

The ride-hailing company claimed they were investigating the matter but nothing materialised.

According to Sindh Consumer Protection Act, 2014, “a provider of services shall be liable to a consumer for damages approximately caused by the provision of service that have caused damage”.

Victims of such incidents can lodge a complaint against the company or any service provider with Consumer Rights Council on their website.

Cutacut has reached out to Careem’s representatives for a comment.