Munnar: The Munnar police have registered a case on their own after a video of a Mumbai girl narrating her bad experience during a visit to Kerala went viral on social media. The girl, identified as Janhvi, an assistant professor from Mumbai, shared her ordeal of being harassed by local taxi drivers and even the police while travelling in an online taxi in Munnar.

In a three-minute video posted on Instagram account on October 31, Janhvi described what happened to her. She and her friends had travelled by an online cab through Kochi and Alappuzha before arriving in Munnar. However, in Munnar, a group of local taxi union members stopped their cab, claiming that online taxis were banned in the area. They threatened the group and insisted they could only travel in local taxis.

When Janhvi sought help from police, they reportedly took the same stance as the union. As a result, she had to switch to another taxi arranged locally. Feeling unsafe, she decided to end the trip and return.

“Customers have a constitutional right to choose their mode of transport. The union taxi drivers demanded three times the online rate. After I shared my experience online, I received messages from people in other states who faced similar harassment. Some said they were followed late at night by taxi groups; others were forced to stay in unsafe hotels. Kerala is beautiful, but it feels like a place where one cannot feel safe,” Janhvi said in her video.