Man 'gropes' female passenger on IndiGo's Mumbai-Guwahati flight, arrested
In the latest midflight incident involving sexual harassment, a man was arrested for reportedly groping a female co-passenger on an IndiGo flight from Mumbai to Guwahati, the airline officials revealed on Sunday. Per News18, the airline staff immediately took action and handed over the accused to the Guwahati Police after the flight landed at the Guwahati Airport on the intervening night of Saturday and Sunday. Reportedly, this is the fourth sexual harassment incident in two months involving unruly flight passengers.
Why does this story matter?
The incident adds to a series of incidents onboard flights involving unruly passengers that put the spotlight on Indian airlines. Most recently, an elderly man allegedly took inappropriate pictures of an air hostess on a SpiceJet flight last month. Earlier, two Indian fliers were arrested in Mumbai for hurling abuses at co-passengers and the cabin crew onboard an IndiGo flight from Dubai in March.
Woman woke up when man started groping, alerted crew
The woman was sitting in an aisle seat and woke up to find the accused passenger's hands on her, The Times of India reported. She reportedly pretended to be sleeping to watch his actions. When he continued to touch her inappropriately, she reportedly screamed and pushed his hand away. She then switched on the seat lights and alerted the crew while the man reportedly started apologizing for his actions. She began crying and shouting while narrating her ordeal.
Accused handed over to Guwahati Police, FIR registered
According to IndiGo, the woman accused her co-passenger of lifting her armrest and groping her while the cabin lights were dimmed on the late-night Mumbai-Guwahati flight (6E-5319). The flight reportedly departed from Mumbai at around 9:00pm on Saturday and reached the destination at around 12:15am on Sunday. The accused was handed over to Guwahati Police upon arrival at the airport. A First Information Report (FIR) has also been registered as the female passenger filed a complaint of sexual harassment.
Similar incidents involving in-flight harassment
In May this year, a drunk passenger reportedly harassed an air hostess on an IndiGo flight from Dubai to Amritsar after she stopped him from disturbing other passengers. As mentioned above, in August, an elderly male passenger took inappropriate pictures of an air hostess while traveling on SpiceJet's flight from Delhi to Mumbai, per reports. The August incident came to light after social media influencer Maanvi Sharma, who was on the flight, shared a video about it on social media.
