New Delhi: In a stern warning to budget carrier IndiGo after it barred a specially-abled child from boarding a flight at the Ranchi airport with his family, Civil Aviation minister Jyotiraditya Scindia said on Monday that no human being should have to go through this and he himself was investigating the incident.
In a tweet, Scindia said there was "zero tolerance towards such behaviour" and vowed to take appropriate action. "There is zero tolerance towards such behaviour. No human being should have to go through this! Investigating the matter by myself, post which appropriate action will be taken,” the minister tweeted.
The aviation minister reacted to incident citing a post by a journalist that shared the details of the incident.
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On Saturday, the child with special needs was barred from boarding IndiGo flight as the carrier’s staff said he was in a "state of panic" and could be a “risk to other passengers”. Manisha Gupta, the founder and director of a consultancy called Start Up India, narrated the whole incident in social media that was widely circulated.
She shared the plight of how the young passenger with special needs was not allowed to board the flight despite constant objections by fellow passengers "who held up their mobile phones with news articles, and Twitter posts on Supreme Court judgements on how no airline could discriminate against passengers with disabilities".
A delegation of doctors taking the same flight assured to provide full support in case of any health episode mid-air. However, it failed to cut ice with the IndiGo staff.
As the boy was prohibited from boarding the airline's Ranchi-Hyderabad flight on Saturday, his parents also decided to not enter the plane.
Following the incident, the aviation regulator, DGCA, stepped in and initiated a probe against the airline and asked to submit a report, said the officials on Sunday, reported new agency PTI.
DGCA chief Arun Kumar told PTI that the regulator had sought a report from IndiGo on this matter. "The Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) is probing this incident and it will take appropriate action," he said.
In a statement, IndiGo said, "In view of the safety of passengers, a specially-abled child could not board the flight with his family on May 7, as he was in a state of panic."
The ground staff waited for him to calm down till the last minute but to no avail, it said. The airline made the family comfortable by providing them a hotel stay and they flew the next morning to their destination, the airline further said.