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Mumbai/Kerala: A leisure trip to Kerala turned into a distressing ordeal for a Mumbai-based tourist, who alleged that she was harassed by local taxi drivers in Munnar and received no help from authorities. The woman, identified as Janvi, an assistant professor from Mumbai, claimed that she was forced to abandon her trip midway after being stopped from using an online taxi service. A police case was registered only after her now-deleted video detailing the incident went viral online, according to an NDTV report. ‘A Trip That Changed Everything’ In a three-minute video shared on social media, Janvi narrated her experience with both emotion and clarity. The video began on a positive note, with her praising the “breathtaking beauty” of Kerala. However, her tone shifted as she recounted what happened next. “This trip started with us going to Kochi, then to Alleppey. The people over there were extremely nice, very kind, very welcoming and then I decided to go to Munnar. A decision that has changed the way that I will always remember this trip,” she said. Janvi said her bed-and-breakfast host in Munnar informed her that app-based taxis such as Uber and Ola were “not allowed” in the region. “Not available. Not allowed,” she clarified in the video, adding that the reason given was “because of the union.” ‘They Were Following Us’ According to Janvi, her group had already booked an online taxi and was preparing to leave when a group of five to six men appeared. “Apparently, they had been following us. They started threatening our cab driver, telling him that he can't take us. Nobody asked us. We obviously didn't understand the language, but we understood the aggression in it and started feeling extremely unsafe,” she recalled. Despite calling the police, Janvi alleged that officers spoke only to the union members. “Not a single word to us,” she said. The police allegedly instructed her group to take a local taxi instead. Calls to Kerala Tourism reportedly led to a similar response. “Everybody kept throwing the same sentence to us. You're not allowed. You're not allowed to decide who you travel with. You're not allowed to feel safe. You're not allowed to exercise your constitutional rights,” she said. ‘I Did Not Feel Safe’ Janvi explained that, as a woman, she preferred app-based taxis because they allowed her to share live locations and travel details for safety. “It's very easy to lodge complaints because of the cybersecurity protocols, but here I was being forced to go with somebody that was threatening us like a few minutes ago, a person that I definitely did not feel safe with,” she added. Later, she checked for the so-called “court order” cited by the drivers and found that the Kerala High Court had, in fact, ruled in favour of online taxi services, stating that “it is the constitutional right of a customer to decide who they want to travel with.” Case Registered After Video Goes Viral Following the viral video and widespread outrage online, the Munnar Police registered a suo motu case on charges of wrongful restraint and criminal intimidation. Officials said they have initiated efforts to record Janvi’s statement directly. In the video, Janvi also shared clips showing local taxi drivers allegedly threatening the online driver and police interacting with union members. Though the video has now been taken down, it sparked a larger debate over the monopoly of local taxi unions in Munnar and the safety of tourists visiting the hill station. “I loved Kerala. I loved how beautiful it was. I loved how amazing the people of Kerala were. But I don't think that I'll be able to come back to a place where I'm not allowed to feel safe,” Janvi said, her voice heavy with disappointment. Get Latest News Live on Times Now along with Breaking News and Top Headlines from Mumbai, India and around the world.
