Bengaluru:
A Rapido bike taxi rider was detained, and a police case filed against him after he was seen on camera slapping a woman passenger following an argument between the two over alleged rash driving in Bengaluru on Friday. However, a new CCTV clip has emerged which shows the woman hitting him first, as claimed by the rider, Suman S, earlier.
In the video, the woman was seen hitting the man on his bike repeatedly. The man then got off his bike and continued to argue with the woman. She was seen hitting him again. In another frame, she could be seen talking to the bystanders.
After the video went viral, Suman S defended his action, alleging the woman had hit him first. "She hit me twice with a tiffin box, that's when I hit her back," he said, alleging the woman also abused him and grabbed him by his collar. "She abused me and asked if I was educated or not... She continued to be rude to me... I asked her about the payment, but she kept abusing me. She grabbed my collar," he said.
He, however, admitted that he had asked the woman to "go back to your country". In the viral video, the woman was seen speaking in English while the man spoke in Kannada.
The woman claimed the rider was not following the traffic rules. "Firstly, he was not following the traffic rules. Secondly, he should not have attacked me. I made the payment and gave him the helmet back," she said.