Man working at Mumbai airport arrested for molesting British national

The accused told her she could wait for her flight in the lounge and took her there, where he put his arm around her waist twice

The Sahar police on Wednesday arrested a 23-year-old man working at Mumbai’s Chhatrapati Shivaji International Airport for allegedly molesting a 24-year-old British national twice while she was waiting for her flight.

The 24-year-old British national was waiting for her flight at Mumbai airport when the incident took place.

The complainant, a resident of London, was on her way to Sri Lanka after her flight from London landed at Mumbai airport early on Wednesday.

Past incidents at airport, on flights

Nov 2017: The Airport police on Monday arrested a 27-year-old man who was allegedly drunk and groped an air hostess on a Mumbai-bound flight. She filed an FIR after the flight from Delhi reached Mumbai.

Jun 2017: A passenger on a Delhi-Mumbai flight was arrested for groping a woman seated next to him. He allegedly continued touching the woman even after she complained to the air hostess. When she got her seat changed, he allegedly asked her: “You do not like to be touched?”

Mar 2017: A 32-year-old man was held for allegedly passing lewd comments at a 28-year-old woman, an immigration staffer, while standing in a queue for a security check at Mumbai airport.

Feb 2017: A 43-year-old businessman travelling on from Kolkata to Mumbai was arrested by the Airport police for allegedly watching porn in front of the air hostess twice. The air hostess and her supervisor spotted him and field a complaint.

The incident took place around 6.30am when she was waiting near a food court in the transit area. She said the accused, Mohsin Shaikh, came up to her and asked how long she would be waiting at the airport. The complainant responded saying she had a 11-hour wait.

Shaikh, who works at the food court, told her that she could sit in the lounge and took her to a room nearby. He then told her that the space had free WiFi service, touched the mobile phone in her hand and put his other hand around her waist. When she pushed his hand away, he did it again.

In her complaint, the woman said she pushed him away and got out of the room by which time Shaikh ran away. The woman then approached a Central Industrial Security Force (CISF) officer who was in the vicinity and told him about the incident. She obliged when officials asked her to submit a handwritten complaint with her signature.

The CISF caught Shaikh and handed him over to the Sahar police, along with the woman’s statement. The police registered an FIR against him under section 354 (criminal force on a woman outraging her modesty) of the Indian penal Code and arrested him.

A magistrate court has remanded him in judicial custody.