The Delhi High Court on Wednesday issued notice on a PIL seeking stronger and uniform safety measures for women passengers using app-based cabs, bike-taxis and other ride-hailing services in the national capital.

A division bench comprising Chief Justice Devendra Kumar Upadhyaya and Justice Tejas Karia sought response of Union Government, Delhi Government, Delhi Police, Uber India, Roppen Transportation Services and ANI Technologies (Ola cabs).

The petition, filed by one Aditya Sehgal, seeks a comprehensive review of existing safety mechanisms and formulation of mandatory safety protocols and Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs) for app-based transportation aggregators, including Uber, Rapido and similarly situated platforms.

Sehgal has raised concerns relating to driver verification and criminal antecedent checks, identification of drivers and vehicles, route deviation, emergency response, grievance redressal, preservation of electronic evidence and coordination between transportation platforms and law-enforcement authorities.

The plea states that representations had earlier been addressed to Uber India Systems Private Limited, Roppen Transportation Services Private Limited (Rapido) and the Commissioner of Police, Delhi, raising concerns regarding existing safety mechanisms. According to the petition, the responses received did not substantively address the specific concerns raised.

The petition refers to incidents reported in the media concerning women passengers, including allegations of route deviation, inappropriate conduct, threats, harassment, driver misconduct and post-ride contact.

Among other measures, the PIL seeks directions to ensure that the driver and vehicle undertaking a ride correspond with the particulars displayed on the application.

It seeks that unauthorised substitution of a driver or vehicle be treated as a safety-related incident and that passengers be permitted to cancel such rides without financial penalty.

The petition has also sought establishment of a 24×7 Command and Control Centre to receive, monitor and respond to emergency and SOS alerts.

It further seeks periodic and verifiable training of drivers on gender sensitisation, appropriate conduct with women passengers, prevention of sexual harassment, personal boundaries, emergency situations and consequences of misconduct, contending that such training should not be reduced to a mere online or tick-box compliance exercise.

The PIL also seeks consideration of surveillance and monitoring mechanisms at vulnerable, isolated and high-risk locations, including suitable surveillance or patrol vehicles and technological monitoring systems for detecting suspicious movement, prolonged stoppages and material route deviations.

The plea also seeks a time-bound grievance-redressal mechanism for complaints concerning driver misconduct, harassment, assault, route deviation, unauthorised changes of driver or vehicle and failure of emergency-response mechanisms, along with appropriate escalation to police authorities wherever warranted.

The petitioner is represented by Advocates Vikas Gupta, Kushik Anand and Sohil Sharma.