Blow to women’s rights; Sexual harassment taking place on flight

Flights are not safe for Indian women. They have been facing sexual harassment on flights, which is a huge blow to women’s rights. 

In a shocking incident in India, an Indigo passenger was booked for alleged sexual harassment for sexually harassing a passenger onboard Mumbai Guwahati flight. Shockingly, that was fifth sexual harassment case, involving Indian passengers, in three months. Why so many sexual harassment cases are taking place on Indian flights? Are women really safe in India?

A man arrested for groping female co-passenger

A man was traveling from Mumbai on an Indigo flight on Saturday, 9 September. He reportedly tried to sexually harass a female co-passenger. A woman alleged that the man groped her on a Mumbai-Guwahati Indigo flight on Saturday night. She accused the man of lifting the armrest and groping her during the journey. 

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The man was reportedly handed over to the police on arrival in Guwahati, a city in Assam, on Sunday morning. The woman filed a case against him. She told The Times of India that an FIR was registered against the man. She said that the man groped her and touched her inappropriately.

The woman said, “He started apologizing for what he did, while I was shouting, crying and narrating the incident to the authorities.”

Four sexual harassment cases in two months

According to TOI, at least four sexual harassment cases involving Indian passengers took place on Indian flights in just two months.

Last month, another incident of sexual harassment took place on a SpiceJet flight, raising problems for female passengers. A man reportedly tried to click obscene pictures of the underskirt of a female flight attendant, raising problems for crew members. 

In July, a man allegedly sexually assaulted a 24-year-old doctor on a Delhi-Mumbai Indigo Airlines flight. The man touched her inappropriately. He was booked under 354A (sexual harassment) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC).

In July, another incident of sexual harassment took place in a flight from Mumbai to Goa. Indian TV actress and Bigg Boss OTT contestant Uorfi Javed was harassed by a drunk man on the flight.