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App-based cab driver convicted, fined by court after argument over AC with passengers

The court in Dindoshi was hearing a criminal appeal filed by the driver, Yashwant Suranje, against the three-month jail term imposed on him by the magistrate court in 2022.

3 min readDec 26, 2025 09:42 PM IST

The sessions court set aside the three-month prison term, calling it 'harsh punishment' compared to the nature of the dispute. (Representative Image)

A SESSIONS court partly upheld the conviction of a 40-year-old app-based driver, directing him to pay a fine of Rs 2,000 for insulting passengers after an argument over luggage and switching on the air conditioning in the cab during the ride from the airport in 2018.

The court in Dindoshi was hearing a criminal appeal filed by the driver, Yashwant Suranje, against the three-month jail term imposed on him by the magistrate court in 2022.

The sessions court set aside the three-month prison term, calling it ‘harsh punishment’ compared to the nature of the dispute. “It is clear that the dispute between the driver of the cab and the passengers was about the luggage and the space of the vehicle. The evidence of prosecution witnesses is sufficient to prove charges under Section 506 and 504 of the Indian Penal Code,” additional sessions judge M H Pathan said in the order passed on December 18. The two sections pertain to criminal intimidation and intentional insult respectively. It said that the fine and the sentence of simple imprisonment till the rising of the court should be sufficient, given the nature of the dispute. “There was no intention by the driver to abuse the witnesses or informant,” the court said.

The incident dated back to November 10, 2018, when the complainant along with his parents, booked an Ola prime cab from the Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj international airport after landing around 3am from Hong Kong. The driver reached the designated spot. The passengers and the driver got into an argument over the luggage–three big bags and a handbag–carried by the complainant. Since it was late and they were tired, they continued the ride with the same driver despite the argument. Once they sat in the cab, however, they saw that the AC was not switched on. They told the driver to switch it on. The complainant’s mother told the driver that she was feeling suffocated since the windows were shut too and requested to switch the AC on to which the driver told her that it was his car and he would decide what to do and that she should shut up. The driver then stopped the car and refused to proceed to their home in Bandra. The complainant said he then sent his parents in another taxi and went to the police station and filed a complaint against the driver.