New Delhi court charges Uber driver with rape, kidnapping; case to begin this week

A New Delhi court has charged an Uber cab driver with the rape, kidnapping and criminal intimidation of a 25-year-old woman who hired the taxi service for a ride home from a dinner engagement last month.

Police official Brijendra Kumar Yadav says the trial of the 32-year-old suspect, Shiv Kumar Yadav, will likely begin later this week in a fast-track court set up in 2013 to bypass India's lumbering judicial system.

The case renewed national anger over India's chronic sexual violence that erupted two years ago when a young woman was fatally gang raped on a moving bus in the capital. It also dealt a blow to Uber, which has attracted global praise and controversy with a service based on hailing rides from a smartphone app.