A Mumbai-based journalist has accused Uber of not cooperating with the police after a woman she pooled a ride with allegedly assaulted her inside the cab on Monday morning. The woman allegedly made racist and abusive comments, pulled her hair and scratched her face while getting off the cab at her drop point.

Ushnota Paul, the journalist, said she was scarred and shaken by the experience.

The accused woman was upset with the driver as she claimed she was paying the most, yet getting dropped last. She was “hostile from the very start”, and “when I tried to intervene, I was verbally abused”, Paul wrote on Twitter.

“She called me all sorts of names and tried to provoke me when I went completely quiet,” Paul said. “Was reading something on my mobile and refused to give a reaction even though she went on her abusive rant calling me the worst abuses that I’m too ashamed to mention.”

When the woman got down near Urmi Estate in Lower Parel, “she went completely racist”. On being told she was using racist words, she allegedly responded: “Yes, so? What will you do?”

“Before she got down from the cab, she physically attacked me, grabbed me by my hair, tore off clumps of hair, scratched my face,” Paul said. “I tried to defend myself with both hands trying to protect my face and I got huge scratches there too.”

Paul went to file a police complaint, and praised the police for being supportive. The driver too gave his statement, she said. However, when the police called Uber, the company allegedly refused to give the woman’s details citing customer privacy.

Uber, however, said it was ready to cooperate with law enforcement authorities with “any information that could be helpful in their proceedings”. “What has been described today is deeply upsetting and is completely against our community guidelines,” an Uber spokesperson said. “The co-rider in question cannot access the app. We have reached out to law enforcement authorities to offer any information that could be helpful in their proceedings. We stand ready to support their investigation into this incident.”