Indian police have arrested a driver with the international taxi-reservation service Uber, following allegations the man raped a female passenger.

Shiv Kumar Yadav, 32, is accused of assaulting a 26-year-old woman, who used the mobile phone application on Friday to hire a driver in New Delhi.

The woman, a female executive for a finance company, alleges she fell asleep in the car. When she awoke, she said Yadav had taken her to a secluded area, where he beat and raped her.

U.S.-based Uber touts itself as a safe option for door-to-door car service, in part because of its cashless, mobile payment system. It began serving New Delhi last December.

Uber suspends driver

On Sunday, Uber said in a statement it had suspended the driver following the allegations, in line with company policy, and would assist the police.

Uber was founded in 2009 and is now present in more than 200 cities and in 45 countries. The firm has faced critical news coverage over its driver screening in the United States, and has apologized for comments by an executive who suggested “digging up dirt” on journalists investigating the firm.

Elsewhere, dozens of student demonstrators scuffled with law enforcement at police headquarters in the capital on Sunday to protest what they described as a system of impunity in how the state handles sexual assaults.

Delhi recorded the highest number of rapes in India in 2013, according to the latest National Crime Records Bureau data.

Police attribute the rise in reports to the fatal gang rape of a woman on a New Delhi bus in December 2012 that brought renewed attention to sexual violence in the country.

Some material for this report came from Reuters and AP.
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