Two offloaded from SpiceJet flight for molesting crew member, accused held

The Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) said it was looking into the incident and appropriate action will be taken.

Two passengers were de-boarded from a Delhi-Hyderabad SpiceJet flight at Delhi’s Indira Gandhi International (IGI) Airport on Monday afternoon after one of them allegedly touched a member of the cabin crew in an inappropriate manner and displayed “unruly behaviour” prior to the flight taking off. The man and his co-passenger were then handed over to a security team at the airport, with the Delhi Police subsequently registering a case, officials said.

The man and his co-passenger were then handed over to a security team at the airport, with the Delhi Police subsequently registering a case, officials said. (REPRESENTATIVE IMAGE)

“On January 23, 2023, SpiceJet wet-leased Corendon aircraft was scheduled to operate SG-8133 (Delhi – Hyderabad). During boarding at Delhi, one passenger behaved in an unruly and inappropriate manner, harassing and causing disturbance to cabin crew. The crew informed the Pilot in Command (PIC) and the security staff of the same. The said passenger and a co-passenger, who were travelling together, were offloaded and handed over to the security team,” said a SpiceJet spokesperson on Monday.

The Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) said it was looking into the incident and appropriate action will be taken.

A senior police officer confirmed the incident and said it was reported on the Delhi-Hyderabad SpiceJet flight on Monday afternoon. “It has been alleged that a woman crew member was loading luggage in the overhead storage compartment when a passenger touched her inappropriately on the thigh. She confronted the passenger who created ruckus on the flight,” the officer said.

Deputy commissioner of police (IGIA) Ravi Kumar Singh said that the man, identified as Absar Alam (29), a resident of Jamia Nagar, has been arrested.

The officer said that the complaint was received by Sushant Srivastava, Spice Jet’s Security officer, on behalf of cabin crew.

“At 4.39pm, a PCR call was received, alleging that a passenger has molested a member of the cabin crew. The passenger Absar Alam was travelling with family to Hyderabad. After the incident, the passenger was offloaded and taken to the police station by the security staff of SpiceJet and PCR staff,” Singh said.

Based on the complaint, a case under Section 354A (molestation) of the Indian Penal Code has been registered, police said.

In a video of the incident that surfaced on social media, a man is seen arguing and shouting at the cabin crew, with a flight attendant pointing down the aisle saying “she is crying” to the passenger.

An airport official said the passenger later gave a written apology, but was de-boarded to avoid further conflict during the flight. The flight, which was scheduled to take off at 2pm, eventually departed from the airport at 3.35pm. It was scheduled to land in Hyderabad at 4.20pm, but landed at 6.07pm, officials said.

The DGCA had on Friday slapped a fine of ₹30 lakh on Air India for the way it had handled an incident on a flight from New York to New Delhi in November, where a Mumbai-based businessman urinated on a female passenger. DGCA had said the airline had failed to tackle the incident in the correct manner, also suspending the Pilot in Command’s license for three months.