Bengaluru: In Bengaluru, a cabbie has filed a complaint against Kannada actress Sanjjanna Galrani for allegedly abusing him when he didn’t switch on the air conditioner in the cab.
According to the cabbie, turning on the AC is against Karnataka’s COVID-19 regulations. Galrani went on social media to say that the driver harassed her and did not mention the COVID-19 regulations. Meanwhile, the video of the incident has gone viral. The cabbie said in his complaint that Sanjjanaa had boarded his taxi near Dommalur here on Tuesday morning. He said that she sat in the vehicle and asked him to switch on the air-conditioner, when he refused to do so as per the government’s Covid-19 guidelines she insisted that he should put it at level 1.
Describing the incident in his complaint, the cabbie added that the actress increased the air-conditioner to level 4 and threatened him with a kidnapping case. She also threatened to launch a campaign against him on social media platforms. Further, he said that he has contacted the Karnataka Drivers Federation on this matter.
Sanjjanaa expressed sadness over the incident. ‘After all, can I challenge a cab driver? I will never go so low. So many women are insulted and offboarded by cab drivers inspite of paying the full fare. I refuse to be that woman. It’s my right as a customer to ask for good service. The charges made by the cab driver are simply no more than stories,’ she said.
On Wednesday, Sanjjanaa shared her version of what happened on social media: At first, the driver refused to turn on the AC at all and was rude and harsh. He yelled at us and never referred to Covid rules. ‘I’m paying for an AC car and it is a customer’s right to ask for the air-conditioning to be switched on.’ Sanjjanaa continued to say that, finally, the AC was put on level 1 with four people in the car, and we adjusted to that too. However, if a driver threatens to offboard any lady in the middle of the road with her 35-kilogram suitcase, she must be brave.
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‘I did not utter a single abuse,’ Sanjjanna said. ‘I just asked him whether he would behave in the same way with his mother or sister in such a situation. The location of the shoot was 50 metres away. This man was taking us to to the wrong address and dumping us on the road, instead of dropping us at the right place.’
In her accusation, the cabbie said he would charge twice what the meter read. She asked him if he would then ask for Rs 10,000. ‘I spoke strongly only because he was very arrogant and forcing us to offboard at the wrong address. I called the cops at 10:30 a.m. on the phone and informed them that the driver was not stopping the car and is taking us round and round, deliberately increasing the meter reading, and not cooperating to take me to the right address.’ After calling the police, the actress said, the driver stopped the car, verified the address, and within five minutes, she was dropped off at the right place. She concluded by saying, ‘I respect the pain of the labour class people. But enough is enough. I cannot take any fake stories against me anymore.’
The Rajarajeshwarinagar police are investigating the matter.
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