COIMBATORE: Three persons, including two lawyers, were arrested by the Peelamedu police after they allegedly harassed a female flight attendant and tried to take photographs of her on board a plane bound for Chennai.
Police identified the accused as M Senthil Kumar (40), S Raja (40), from Perundarai in Erode, and A Subash Swaminathan (31) from Tirupur. While Senthil Kumar and Raja are lawyers, Subash is the State youth wing president of the All India Hindu Maha Sabha. All three men had boarded the flight in an inebriated condition. Soon after boarding, they began harassing a 23-year-old flight attendant, and tried to take pictures of her.
The flight was to take off for Chennai at 10.25 pm on Wednesday. However, because of the three men, it was delayed. ‘
The pilot, who was informed about the incident, tried to intervene. However, the trio could not be reined in, forcing ground crew to intervene.
Personnel from the Central Industrial Security Force (CISF) were called into the aircraft to de-plane the three passengers.
The airport security alerted the Peelamedu police, who took the three men to the police station for questioning.
Based on a complaint from the airport security personnel, police registered a case against the three men under Section 354 (assault or criminal force to woman with intent to outrage her modesty) of the IPC and Section 4 of the Tamil Nadu Prohibition of Women Harassment Act. They were also booked under Section 75(1)(b) of the Tamil Nadu City Police Act, and remanded to judicial custody.
Police said that the statement of the flight attendant would be recorded. As a result of the incident, the flight was delayed by more than 90 minutes and left for Chennai around 12 am.