Dwarka minor assault case: De-rostered IndiGo woman pilot gets bail

The court said Poornima Bagchi has been in judicial custody for the past month, and that she has a 4-year-old child on medication for a life-threatening disease

A Delhi court on Thursday granted bail to a de-rostered IndiGo woman pilot arrested last month along with her husband for allegedly physically assaulting a 10-year-old girl she had employed as an attendant for her child at her Dwarka home.

The woman, Poornima Bagchi, 33, a former first officer for IndiGo airlines, and her husband, Kaushik Bagchi, were booked on July 19. (Representational Image)

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The woman, Poornima Bagchi, 33, a former first officer for IndiGo airlines, and her husband, Kaushik Bagchi, who is a ground staff with Vistara airlines, were booked on July 19 after a video was widely shared on social media showing Bagchi being assaulted by a group of people who learned about the alleged mistreatment of the minor.

The video showed several women and girls, including the minor’s relatives, dragging Bagchi, who was in uniform, by her hair, slapping and punching her, even as she could be heard and seen apologising with folded hands. Her husband was seen attempting to protect his wife, but he, too, was dragged and assaulted by men from the crowd.

According to the police, the couple was injured in the assault.

Later, IndiGo said that it had de-rostered Bagchi from duties.

The couple were booked for voluntarily causing hurt, wrongful confinement, buying or disposing of any person as a slave, and cruelty to a child under Indian Penal Code (IPC) sections 323, 342, 370, 374 and 34, and sections of Juvenile Justice Act and Child Labour Act, in a case registered at Dwarka South police station. A separate first information report was filed against unidentified people for assaulting the couple under sections 323 (voluntarily causing hurt) and 341 (wrongful restraint) of the Indian Penal Code.

“Considering the facts and that the accused has been in judicial custody for the last one month and there is no purpose in keeping her in custody, the application is hereby allowed,” said additional sessions judge Vipin Kharb while granting bail to Bagchi.

Bagchi, being represented by advocate Tanveer Ahmad Mir and a team of advocates from Karanjawala and Co, had moved the bail application on the grounds that she had already been in custody for the last one month and was not required for any further custodial interrogation.

It was pointed out that the woman has a four-year-old child who is on constant medication for a life-threatening disease and that the child is currently living in Jharkhand under the care of his grandparents because the woman has no relatives in Delhi. It was argued that the child requires personal parental care, specifically the care of the mother, and that because both parents are in custody, she must be released on bail.

The woman’s attorney also said in court that she will not flee or induce or tamper with any witnesses or evidence.

Read here: IndiGo derosters pilot over allegations of hiring, torturing minor as domestic help

The court was also informed that all of the sections invoked against her are bailable, with the exception of Section 370 (human trafficking), which cannot be determined at the present stage based on the facts of the case.

The bail application was opposed by the additional public prosecutor as well as the counsel for the complainant, who argued that Bagchi had injured the child not only physically but also psychologically.