A passenger on board a Delhi-Mumbai flight earlier this month was allegedly found to be clicking pictures of the cabin crew, private airline SpiceJet said on Friday, adding that he was subsequently asked to delete the photos. The passenger deleted the pictures and gave a written apology for the incident that happened on August 2, the airline said in a statement.
“A passenger seated in the first row of SpiceJet flight SG157 operating from Delhi to Mumbai on August 2 was found clicking pictures of the cabin crew, while she was seated on the jump seat at the time of take-off,” a SpiceJet spokesperson said. “The passenger was confronted by the crew members. He deleted the pictures from his phone and apologised for his action. The passenger also gave a written apology,” the spokesperson added. Taking a suo moto cognizance of a video being circulated on social media platform Instagram, the Delhi Commission for Women has issued notices to the Indira Gandhi International Airport Police and the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) over an incident of alleged sexual harassment onboard a flight.
“In a flight from Delhi to Mumbai, a passenger secretly took videos and objectionable photos of the flight attendant and other women. A video on this is going viral on Instagram. This is a very serious matter, taking cognizance they are issuing notices to the police and DGCA,” DCW chairperson Swati Maliwal tweeted on Friday sharing copies of the notices.
“It is alleged in the viral video that a passenger was trying to click obscene pictures of a woman flight attendant and his woman co-passenger. It has been stated that when his mobile phone was checked, objectionable pictures of the women onboard the plane were found in his mobile,” the notice read.
In the DCW notice, Maliwal sought a copy of the FIR registered in the matter and details of the accused arrested by August 23. “If the accused has not been arrested, please inform the reasons for the same, detailed action taken report in the matter and provide the sought information to the Commission Considering the gravity of the matter,” Maliwal wrote. Maliwal said, “Complaints of sexual harassment on flights are on the rise. This is unacceptable. In this particular case, an FIR should be registered and the matter should be thoroughly investigated and guilty must be punished. DGCA must have a zero tolerance policy against sexual harassment on flights and take stringent action to prevent such incidents in the future.”