Bengaluru techie sexually harassed by food delivery agent: ‘he followed me into kitchen’

A delivery agent has been accused of sexually harassing a customer in Bengaluru

A Bengaluru woman was sexually harassed by a food delivery agent inside her home. According to a Times of India report, the 30-year-old woman, a techie by profession, ordered dosa from a restaurant on March 17. Her food was delivered to her home in AECS layout by a delivery agent associated with a major food delivery aggregator.

When the food arrived at around 6.45 pm on March 17, the woman asked the food delivery agent if he wanted some water. “As a courtesy, I asked him (the food delivery boy) if he wanted some water to drink,” she told Times of India.

The delivery agent replied in the affirmative. After drinking water, he left the place. However, he knocked on the door a few minutes later.

“As I opened the door, he said, ‘Ma’am can I use your washroom? It’s very urgent.’ I directed him to the washroom. As soon as he came out, I asked him to leave. He said, ‘Can I have some water again?’ to which I agreed and asked him to wait near the door. Shockingly, he followed me into the kitchen,” the woman recalled.

“He muttered something which I didn’t understand and just grabbed my hand. I started shouting at him asking what was he up to and why he’d come to the kitchen. As he was still he was still holding my hand, I took a frying pan and hit him on his back. He ran out of the house. I ran behind him up to the lift, but he took the stairs and escaped,” she told TOI.

She described the delivery agent as a man in his 20s with a beard who was wearing a face mask pulled down to the chin. “The delivery boy spoke to me in broken Hindi and English, but I am not sure which language he spoke when he came to the kitchen and approached me,” she said.

The Bengaluru-based techie called the police helpline number (112) and cops suggested she file a complaint with HAL police. Meanwhile, the four-storey building where she lives has decided not to allow delivery men to enter the premises. All residents have been asked to collect their orders at the gate.

The woman has also accused the online restaurant aggregator of not taking her complaint seriously.

“They didn't share his mobile number and other details even after I reached the police station. When I was on a call with the firm's customer care, they overheard a police officer suggesting that I should write the company name, after which they revealed his phone number,” she said.