An immigration assistant was arrested for allegedly harassing a woman passenger at Indira Gandhi International (IGI) Airport, police said on Thursday. Vinod Kumar was arrested late on Wednesday for sexually harassing and stalking a female passenger from Bengaluru. He was later released on bail within hours.
Kumar’s arrest came Wednesday night after police recorded the Bengaluru-based victim’s statement before a magistrate in which she corroborated her allegations against him. A case under sections 354A (sexual harassment), 354D (stalking) and 509 (word, gesture or act intended to insult the modesty of a woman) of Indian Penal Code (IPC) has been filed with IGI Airport police station.
“Kumar was arrested Wednesday night. Our team went to Bengaluru where we got the victim’s statement recorded before a magistrate under Section 164 of CrPc with her having corroborated the sequence of events. Following this, Kumar was arrested,” said Deputy Commissioner of Police (IGIA) MI Haider.
The incident took place on March 19, when Kumar reportedly asked the woman questions with sexual undertones while checking her passport and other travel documents after she reached Delhi from Bengaluru on her way to Hong Kong.
In her complaint to police, the woman alleged she was sexually harassed verbally by Kumar. “I would like to complain about an immigration officer who verbally, sexually harassed me not only during the immigration process at the desk but also by following me along the travelator between domestic and international transfer. This happened on March 19 at 9.30 pm,” she had said in her complaint.
She also alleged that Kumar asked her many unpleasant and private questions at the immigration counter. According to the complaint, she was asked questions like “how many children do you have; do you drink; do you smoke; do you eat chicken; do you have fun with men when your husband is at work”. He is also alleged to have asked whether she had undergone a surgery for birth control and if she would like to have her third child with him.
The father-in-law of the victim, a former head of a Karnataka commerce and industry body, in his online complaint mailed to the Commissioner of the Bureau of Immigration, Delhi, said that his daughter-in-law had lodged an oral complaint on her return from Hong Kong on March 23 at the airport along with her husband and son.