New Delhi, Nov 17 (IANS) The National Commission for Women (NCW) has ruled out sexual assault on an air hostess during a mid-air scuffle onboard an Air India flight last month but also noted that the girl was ‘indeed pushed’ during the altercation.
The NCW report was submitted to Civil Aviation Minster Praful Patel and Women and Child Development Minister Krishna Tirath Monday. The committee, headed by NCW member Wansuk Syiem, took nearly one and a half months for the probe.
The committee report says that there was indeed an altercation between the pilot and co-pilot with the flight purser and an air hostess on board the flight. But the committee established that there was no sexual harassment in the incident.
The air hostess Komal Singh had levelled sexual harassment charges against the co-pilot a few days after the Oct 3 incident. The incident occurred onboard the Sharjah-Lucknow-Delhi IC-884 flight, when it was on its first leg.
The committee found that the pilot Ranbir Arora had called the flight purser Amit Khanna into the cockpit. Singh had followed Khanna in and there Arora and co-pilot Aditya Chopra admonished the purser for his ‘unprofessional’ behaviour since he had not followed procedure for in-flight announcements.
The purser rudely answered back and according to the report this aggravated the situation as both pilots lost their temper.
‘The captain during the course of altercation pushed the flight purser, Amit Khanna, and the air hostess, Komal Singh, out of the cockpit for the safety of the flight and the passengers… this led to the air hostess sustaining an abrasion on her right arm,’ the NCW report said.
The committee, however, maintained that ‘there was no reason for the commander (pilot) to behave like that’ and that he should have written a complaint to higher authorities after the flight landed in Lucknow.
The airline had grounded the pilots and the cabin crew after the Delhi Police registered a case of molestation against the pilots on the complaint filed by the air hostess.
A committee of state-run carrier Air India that probed the incident had termed Singh’s allegations of misbehaviour as baseless. The air hostess was issued a chargesheet for violation of the conduct rules.
The NCW committee has also hauled up Air India calling the chargesheet against the air hostess inappropriate while its inquiry was on.
Syiem told IANS that they have recommended that the chargesheet be withdrawn and the airhostess be reinstated.
On the air hostess filing an affidavit against the NCW in a court, she said: ‘If (Komal) did not trust NCW then she should have never filed a complaint with us, and by filing such affidavits against people who support her she is spoiling her own case.’
The commission has also recommended that gender sensitivity training should be provided to all staff having flight duties. ‘This is essential as they have to work together as team for a common cause and it is extremely essential that they maintain appropriate behaviour,’ the report further said.
The committee’s report is an interim report and the subsequent detailed report with statements will be submitted soon, Syiem told IANS.
