HYDERABAD: Three male staff including a pilot with AirAsia have been accused of harassing a woman passenger at Kempegowda International Airport in Bengaluru. The incident took place on the Ranchi-Hyderabad-Bengaluru flight i5 1585 on November 3.
The woman has filed a case with Sadashivanagar police. The complaint comes close on the heels of IndiGo airlines staff assaulting a passenger in New Delhi. However, AirAsia spokesperson denied allegations made by the passenger and said that the airline filed a complaint with the Airport police and reported the matter to the DGCA a day after the incident, following all laid down civil aviation requirements by the regulator.
The spokesperson alleged that the woman passengers had abused a senior crew member when he repeatedly asked her to switch off the mobile phone as it was a take-off time. Police said that the 28-year-old woman, who works for a private bank in the city, wrote in her complaint that after boarding the plane in Ranchi, she complained to a male staff about the toilet not being clean. The woman said she was forced to return to her seat, while the staff insisted that the toilet was cleaned a few minutes ago. She also alleged that a cabin crew member touched her in an inappropriate manner and that when she called her sister to tell about the incident, the staff threatened her that “they would throw her off the flight for using the phone when the flight was about to take off”.
The woman said when she disembarked the plane in Bengaluru around midnight, she was surrounded by three male flight crew, including the pilot, who ordered her to apologise. She wrote that she tried to reach police control room but was taken to a room by a woman staff and threatened that a case would be filed against her.Speaking to Express the woman said, “I filed a case with police on November 7 as it took me a while to come out of the shock and I had some health issues.
The case is being handed over to BIAL police. She also alleged that the staff surrounded her and tried to molest her, a claim rejected by AirAsia. The airline in its statement said: “The Senior Cabin Crew who was operating the flight, following the pre-take off safety and security procedures, noticed the lady passenger seated in seat 17F speaking on the phone and requested her to switch off her mobile phone. In return the woman turned abusive, despite efforts to calm her down. A senior police officer said that “the woman, filed a complaint with Sadashivanagar Police.