It's raining in Karnataka, but seems like the temperature hasn't quite dipped.
In a disturbing video which is now viral, a Rapido rider can be seen slapping a woman passenger, crashing her to the ground. And this incident happened on a day a state-wide ban on bike taxis imposed by the Karnataka high court has come into effect.
Although bike taxis had become a popular and affordable last-mile option for lakhs of commuters in Bengaluru, they operated in a legal grey area under private-use registrations, prompting the high court to order a halt in April which the state finally enforced starting June 16.
The slap incident
The incident, caught on camera and now viral on social media, unfolded after the woman, reportedly an employee at a jewellery store, confronted the rider over rash driving.
She had chosen to end the ride midway, but what began as a verbal spat quickly turned violent.
The incident sparked a wave of outrage on social media, where the video was widely shared. One user on X wrote, “So sad to see bystanders standing spinelessly… disgraceful and disgusting.”
Another dropped a pun laced with sarcasm: “My concern is — was the slap in Kannada or not? If not, he should be punished. Otherwise, it’s okay.”
The lack of intervention from passers-by struck a nerve with many, reigniting debates over apathy in urban India and the rising instances of road rage in Bengaluru, a city often criticised for language-linked aggression and commuter conflict.
While police said they urged the woman to file an FIR, she reportedly declined to pursue the case. A non-cognisable report has been filed, and an investigation is underway.
The episode comes on a day of reckoning for the bike taxi sector in Karnataka. Following a high court order that rejected further relief to aggregators, the government moved to enforce the long-pending ban from Monday, June 16.
A timeline of the bike-taxi case
Bike taxis have long operated in a legal grey zone in Karnataka. While they offered affordable, last-mile mobility to lakhs of commuters in India’s tech capital, they did so under private-use vehicle registration, violating motor vehicle regulations.
Karnataka’s transport department has maintained that using “white-board” two-wheelers for commercial purposes is illegal.
The high court first directed a halt on bike taxi operations in April. After multiple deadline extensions, the state finally pulled the plug this week. State transport minister Ramalinga Reddy confirmed: “Twelve weeks are over. They must follow the court’s order.”
Rapido, the largest player in the state with 60% of the market share and 16.5 lakh daily rides, said it has complied, replacing its app’s ride-booking option with a new “Bike Parcel” service.
“We deeply believe in the value of bike taxis but will fully abide by the directive,” the company stated.
Uber and Ola, however, continued to offer bike ride options on Monday morning, raising fresh concerns about patchy enforcement.
Gig economy takes the hit
For Karnataka’s gig economy, the court’s order has landed a serious blow. With over 6 lakh livelihoods estimated to be linked to bike taxi services, industry bodies like Nasscom and IAMAI have urged the government to reconsider the ban and instead frame a regulatory policy.
“Over 1,00,000 gig workers in Bengaluru and across Karnataka are losing our right to earn and feed our families,” the Namma Bike Taxi Association wrote to chief minister Siddaramaiah and Congress MP Rahul Gandhi on Sunday.
Rapido claimed that 75% of its riders use the platform as their primary income source, earning an average of Rs 35,000 a month.
The company also submitted that it had disbursed ₹700 crore in earnings to riders and paid Rs 100 crore in GST in the past few years.
Yet, the government has made it clear that it has no plans to draft a bike taxi policy.
Acting Chief Justice V Kameswar Rao remarked that interim relief to aggregators could have been possible “had the state shown intent to regulate.”
Bangaloreans however, are already feeling the pinch. “I was paying Rs 55 from Thippasandra to Indiranagar,” a user posted in X. “Now I need to shell out Rs 85 for autos. Hiring offline autorickshaws will be like IPL auction.”