Mumbai: Uber driver takes poet to cops after overhearing his anti-CAA conversation

In an unsettling incident, a Mumbai cab driver took a passenger to police after overhearing the latter's phone conversation criticising the citizenship law during a ride. Poet and anti-CAA activist Bappadittya Sarkar had a hell of a journey from Juhu to Kurla on Wednesday night after his cab's driver—apparently, one Rohit Singh from Bhopal—stopped the ride midway at a police station to complain that the passenger was talking about "burning the nation". 

The issue came to light after social activist Kavita Krishnan released WhatsApp screenshots from Sarkar on social media. Narrating the incident, Sarkar said he was talking to his friend about "protest cultures in different cities, Shaheen Bagh, people's discomfort with Laal Salaam and how to make Jaipur's protests more effective". Soon, Singh stopped the car for the pretext of withdrawing cash from ATM. To Sarkar's shock, the Uber driver returned with two policemen and that's when the poet realised that he was near a police station. 

"Sir, you may please taking him inside (the police station). He was talking about setting the nation on fire. He identifies himself as a communist, and talks about creating a Shaheen Bagh in Mumbai. I have the full recording (of the conversation)," the driver allegedly complained to the cops. In his defence, the poet asked the policemen to listen to the recording to see if he has spoken about "burning the nation" or anything anti-national, for that matter. 

When personally confronted by Sarkar, the driver came back with a more revealing threat: "Should we do nothing and just stand and watch how you guys are manipulating the nation? I could've taken you "somewhere else", you should be thankful that I took you to the cops!"

The Uber driver allegedly kept yelling at the poet throughout the incident. Later, Sarkar was taken to the police station and questioned about his ideology, books he read, his father's salary, the kind of poems he penned, his social media handles and how he sustained in Mumbai without a job. They also recorded statements from both the cab driver and Sarkar. 

Though polite, the police warned him against carrying a 'dafli' around or wearing a red scarf because "the situation is so bad in the country, anything can happen." 

Emphasising the prevailing mindset in the country, Kavita Krishnan wondered if Sarkar was targeted because he sounded Bengali. "Is Banglabhashi a reason to be suspected of being Bangladeshi or pro Bangladeshi? Is it dangerous to be Bangladeshi? Remember how workers in Vijayvargeeya's house & in Bangalore were harassed? (sic)," Krishnan asked. 

She also wondered if the police would have been polite had a "Muslim, or poor, or trans, or recognisably dalit/adivasi or any of the other categories that the police view as criminal by their very existence" were in place of Sarkar. 

Reacting to Krishnan's tweets, Uber India stated: "This is concerning. We'd like to address this on priority. Kindly share the registered details from which the trip was requested via Direct Message. A member from our safety team will get in touch with you at the earliest."