SETC bus crew drops female lecturer at desolate area in Sriperumbudur, video goes viral

CHENNAI: A lecturer of a private college in Sriperumbudur has accused the crew of an SETC bus of dropping her at an isolated spot in Sriperumbudur around midnight, despite her appeal to let her disembark at a safer spot nearby. She has shared her ordeal via a video clip she recorded while on the bus, which has since gone viral.

The woman, Swatisha from Kozhikode, who teaches at a private college in Sriperumbudur was travelling from Bengaluru to Sriperumbudur toll booth in a government bus on Monday, as per Malayalam media reports.

At around midnight, as the bus was nearing the Sriperumbudur toll booth area, she requested the bus conductor to give her the change for the ticket fare she had paid. She had given a Rs 500 note for a Rs 420 ticket. However, the conductor allegedly refused to give her the balance money and rudely retorted that it was her responsibility to keep exact change.

Following this, the bus crew told her to disembark at a spot near the toll booth, but when Swatisha requested the driver and conductor to drop her a little further away, closer to her accommodation near the college, explaining that it was a desolate and unsafe place, they were unmindful of her concerns, as heard in the clip shared by her.

When the woman passenger questioned the bus crew about dropping her at an isolated spot late into the night, the crew is heard telling her to "just take an auto." Even when she tells them that auto rickshaws wouldn't normally ply there at this hour, the insensitive bus crew tells her to alight from the vehicle.

Swatisha also alleged that the bus crew did not seem to care even when she told she was recording the incident and would file a complaint. She also told a Malayalam news channel that the spot where she was dropped was known to be unsafe even after 6 in the evening. It is a portion of a service road where lorries are parked. If the bus has dropped me a little closer to where my accommodation was, I could have still run off, she told them.

Meanwhile, SETC Managing Director R Mohan has stated that he would look into the matter and take action against the bus crew based on the complaint. "Refusing to stop the bus at the request of a woman passenger is unacceptable," he said. To avoid issues regarding the exact change in ticket fares, he mentioned that passengers can use UPI, credit, or debit cards for payment.

Inputs from Bureau