A 28-year-old Bengaluru-based senior executive with a multinational company has filed a police complaint against the captain and the cabin crew of a private carrier accusing them of harassment and wrongful restraint after she complained about the condition of the in-flight washroom.
Though the incident occurred Friday last week — when the complainant flew by AirAsia from Ranchi to Bengaluru — the complaint was filed with the Sadashiva Nagar police on Tuesday earlier this week. She told the police that soon after boarding the plane, she went to the washroom. She found it dirty and complained to a stewardess. Soon after, a steward intervened, and allegedly behaved roughly with her and asked her to return to her seat.
She called her sister over the phone while the plane was getting ready to take off. In her complaint, she alleged that the steward approached her again and verbally abused her.
“She told us that when the plane made a scheduled halt at Hyderabad, the captain along with other crew members took a picture of her on a cellphone,” said a police officer.
When the plane reached Bengaluru around midnight, she alleged that she was detained by the captain and the crew for an hour, and allowed to leave only after she apologised to them.
The police have booked the captain and the two crew members for outraging the modesty (Section 509 of IPC), wrongful restraint (341), and sexual harassment (354). The case has been transferred to the Bengaluru International Airport police for further investigation.
A spokesperson from AirAsia denied her allegations and said that the crew had followed Standard Operating Procedure (SOP). A senior cabin crew member, while going through the pre-take off safety and security procedure, noticed the passenger speaking on the phone and requested her to switch it off. “The senior cabin crew member had to repeatedly request the guest to switch off the phone. She resorted to verbal abuse. The crew managed to calm the passenger down and resumed their duties. However, the passenger continued to be abusive,” said the spokesperson.
During the halt in Hyderabad, as she was travelling alone, the Captain took a call to allow her to fly to Bengaluru following an assurance that she would remain calm through the remainder of the flight.
“Upon arrival in Bengaluru, following standard procedure, all guests were allowed to deplane. The disruptive passenger was escorted in a crew coach along with a security staff of the airline to the passenger arrival hall. She was then escorted to the airport police station with the airline’s lady security staff and two CISF personnel,” said the spokesperson.
