Cabbie’s murder

If there are some irresponsible policemen, so are there irresponsible citizens. Both go out of control over trivial matters and kill the innocent. Recently in Lahore, a passenger shot dead an online cab driver after they had arguments with each other. The poor cab driver lost his life for not doing the bidding of the arrogant passenger. In order to mislead investigators, the murder accused took away valuables in the car and also those belonging to the driver. The accused has been arrested and has confessed to the killing. He told the police that he was getting late in reaching his destination and the cab driver was driving slowly. This led to an altercation during which he lost his temper and opened fire on the driver.

Online cab drivers complain that companies give priority to passengers and do not care about the safety and issues concerning them. So they try to avoid passengers’ complaints. On the slightest pretext, passengers lodge complaints with companies. Some passengers behave as if drivers were their personal slaves. In this situation, they always feel under pressure. Considering that passengers are of different temperaments, they are polite to them all. However, some passengers are hot-headed and they have to deal with them tactfully. Besides, they also have to face life-threatening situations and are exposed to other kinds of hazards given the state of law and order. They have a feeling of insecurity.

The police say the accused has no previous crime record. However, one thing remains certain. He is a bully with the capabilities to make him arrogant, and so for him a poor taxi driver’s life was of no consequence. Hail-ride service cabs have several security features to provide a sense of safety to passengers, but the present tragic incident indicates that there are no safety measures in place to protect drivers from unruly passengers. Society too bears some responsibility for such tragic incidents. Something is seriously amiss.

Published in The Express Tribune, January 14^th, 2021.

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