Harbhajan Singh slams Jet Airways over ‘racist’ pilot

Mumbai: Cricketer Harbhajan Singh kicked up a storm on social media on Wednesday by demanding action against an expatriate pilot of Jet Airways who allegedly misbehaved with a woman and physically challenged passenger, an incident on which The Asian Age had reported on April 7.

Mumbai-based film producer Pooja Gujral had spoken about the alleged harassment and humiliation meted out to her friend Jatinder Singh (37), a music director, and herself by the pilot on April 6.

Ms Gujral had complained to the airline but said she’s yet to get a reply. Also, the local police had allegedly refused to file an FIR when Ms Gujral had approached them.

Ms Gujral and Harbhajan, a close friend, happened to discuss the incident after which he tweeted about the same on Wednesday, saying, “Not only was he (the pilot) racist but physically assaulted a lady and abused a physically challenged man..absolutely disgraceful &shame on @jetairways (sic).”

Harbhajan Singh

Immediately after this incident, Jet Airways’ Indian pilots had been asked by their union not to fly with expat pilots from May over alleged cases of misbehaviour by expat pilots towards pilots and passengers.

Ms Gujral and Mr Singh had to face physical and verbal abuse owing to the latter’s wheelchair, which, according to the pilot, had delayed the flight. The duo, who had been to Chandigarh to attend a film award function, were waiting for the wheelchair to be handed over to them by the ground staff.

The pilot, however, allegedly went up to the passengers and yelled at them, telling them the wheelchair check-in had delayed the flight. According to Ms Gujral, when she intervened and said that the airline had checked it in at Chandigarh, the pilot got infuriated.

Ms Gujral lodged a written complaint with the airline as soon as they disembarked. But when approached Sahar police station on the night of April 6, it allegedly refused to lodge an FIR against the pilot as he “hadn’t sexually abused or raped her.” However, the police filed a complaint.

“He started screaming and pushed my hand saying ‘get out’. I moved him aside and warned him not to touch me and he said ‘you bloody Indian'. Mr Singh intervened but he was nasty and rude to him too… Discrimination against the physically challenged is inhumane, barbaric and atrocious,” Ms Gujral had told The Asian Age.

Jet Airways issued a statement on Wednesday night that they had de-rostered the concerned pilot. “Jet Airways takes a serious view of such incidents. The airline has a strict employee code of conduct reflecting its values and ethos which is clearly mentioned in the prescribed service conditions for all employees and is adequately emphasized during internal training sessions. In continuation of our earlier statement dated April 06, 2017, the airline has already noted guest feedback with concern.

The concerned pilot remains de-rostered since the day of the event, pending results of a full-fledged internal investigation that is currently underway, based on specific inputs from guests, concerned departments and law-enforcement agencies. Jet Airways will take corrective action as per company policy. Additionally, the airline has already issued an apology to the guest regretting the incident and will update the guest with the result of the investigation”