leaflet alleges assault: dissuaded from filing a complaint – Latest news | Kolkata News

KOLKATA: A 26-year-old Darjeeling resident traveling with relatives has alleged that she was assaulted by another passenger mid-flight and both airline crew on board and CISF Staff in Bagdogra dissuaded that she files a complaint in spite of himself admitting touching her inappropriately. They argued that in the absence of any evidence, it would be his word against his and asked him to get away with an apology.
An airline spokesperson said cabin crew quickly intervened to remedy the situation.
The woman, who is preparing to take the civil service exam, was traveling in SpiceJet flight SG 592 on January 31 and was initially assigned an aisle seat behind the three seats occupied by her boyfriend, mother and ailing father. The mother, who was seated on the aisle in front of her, suggested that she sit in the adjacent row, because only one of the three seats was occupied. The youth, a fifth-year student at a law college in Kolkata, who was sitting on the aisle seat agreed to move and give up the seat to the woman.

However, he did not move to the empty window seat and instead sat in the middle seat, next to the one occupied by the woman.
As the plane took off around 9:30 a.m., the woman put on the headphones and started listening to music. Shortly after takeoff, she felt the young man push her left arm which was resting on the armrest of the seat.

“He kept his right arm on the armrest next to mine. As I was busy listening to music, I only noticed it when I felt my arm being touched. When I turned to the armrest, I saw that he had placed his left palm under his right hand and his fingers were touching me from time to time. At first I thought he was accidentally touching me. But at that moment the crew started serving food and he quickly removed his arms,” she said.

It was after the attendants had finished serving the meals, halfway through the flight, that she felt an arm touch her thigh and attempt to caress her. She immediately screamed and a flight attendant came running to ask what had happened.
“When I told him that the passenger had attacked me, the young man told me he was sorry if anything he had done made me feel uncomfortable. I was so angry that I slapped him. The flight attendant warned me that I shouldn’t have done it and asked if I wanted to change seats. I told him it was the offender who should do it. He was then moved to another row, but I insisted that action be taken against him. Shortly after, a flight attendant arrived and instead of reassuring me, he asked me why I was screaming. They are the ones who are trained to handle such situations, not me,” she told TOI.
After the plane landed, the airline staff and CISF staff took them aside and advised them to let the youth go as he was a student and filing a complaint would result in a long battle legal.
“I felt extremely disappointed to see the young people being allowed to go free after apologizing,” she said.
“On arrival at Bagdogra, both were assisted and escorted by SpiceJet security personnel to CISF officials at the arrival area. The passenger demanded action. THE accused apologized and the passenger left the airport without filing a complaint, which hampered SpiceJet’s further investigation,” a spokesperson said.