In another case of unruly behaviour on a flight, a man has been booked for allegedly using abusive language and passing lewd comments towards the crew members aboard an Air India flight from New York to Delhi. An FIR has been registered by the Delhi police against the passenger for creating ruckus.
The case was registered at Delhi's IGI Airport Police station on October 1 following the complaint of the victim cabin crew staff, as per ANI. According to the FIR, a crew member working in the economy class cabin said the accused, who was originally seated at 21B and later at 45H, started passing lewd comments and abusing others on board.
The passenger was verbally warned by the cabin supervisor before being given a written warning. The crew later restrained him as he continued to behave in the same manner, as per the FIR, PTI reported. He also allegedly abused the complainant and other female crew members in the galley.
"He was very loud and used very foul language which scared the passengers and families seated around him. He was also very disrespectful towards our country (India) and his behaviour was very aggressive," the FIR stated, as reported by PTI.
The Delhi police registered a case under Section 509 (word, gesture, or act intended to insult the modesty of a woman) of the Indian Penal Code, and sections 22 and 23 of the Aircraft Rules were registered against the accused passenger, Abhinav Sharma, a resident of Jalandhar in Punjab.
Earlier in July, a passenger allegedly abused and assaulted a senior Air India official on board its Sydney-Delhi flight. The incident took place when the Air India official, who was downgraded from business class to economy due to the seat malfunctioning, tried to correct his co-passenger about his loud voice. Despite the physical assault, Air India cabin crew did not use restraining devices to contain the unruly passenger.
An Air India spokesperson, in a statement, said, "A passenger on board AI-301 operating Sydney-Delhi on July 9, 2023, behaved in an unacceptable manner during flight, despite verbal and written warnings, causing distress to other passengers, which included one of our employees."
"Upon the flight's safe landing at Delhi, the passenger was handed over to the security agency, and the passenger later apologised in writing," the airline said. It also said that the DGCA was "duly informed" of the incident and added that the airline "will take a firm stand against misbehaviour. We will pursue this to the full extent of the law." The seat allotted to the Air India official was 30-C since there were other passengers he chose to shift.