Diabetes patient, wife file case against airline

An elderly woman has filed a case against an airline staff for manhandling her in an incident that took place on January 12. The incident took place when the woman’s family was de-boarded following an argument with the airline staff for allegedly not allowing her husband, a diabetic, to use the washroom.

The incident took place on January 12 at around 3.30 pm, on IndiGo flight 6E 215 enroute Kochi to Ahmedabad via Mumbai. According to sources from the Mumbai airport, an Ahmedabad-based family was travelling in the aircraft. Sunny John (54), a diabetic, kidney and BP patient, was travelling with his wife Teena John (51), daughter-in-law Neetu John (30) and a two-month-old infant. The John family was booked from Kochi to Ahmedabad.

During the flight’s Mumbai halt, Mr Sunny, moved to go to the washroom, but was stopped by the captain of the aircraft who said that the washroom was being cleaned. However, Mr Sunny argued with the captain, while his wife joined in too. Later, when Ms Teena found the washroom empty, she requested the captain to let her husband use it.

An argument ensued, and the flying officer decided to offload the John family. Later, the airline officials requested the Central Industrial Security Force (CISF) to escort the passengers off the plane as they refrained from getting deplaned and created a ruckus onboard.

“My husband is diabetic and for no reason the airline staff was stopping him from using the washroom. When we were off-loaded from the aircraft, one Manoj, airline security staff, came and gave us a bag, which was not ours. When I told him to give us our bag, he suddenly pushed me, so I shouted at him. Later, we were taken to the police station with the help of CISF where I filed a case against Manoj. We are very disappointed with the airline’s behaviour and it’s very disheartening.”

The spokesperson of the airline said, “Since the lavatory was undergoing cleaning, a crewmember requested the passenger to use it once it was cleaned. The passenger upon hearing this got physical and pushed the crewmember. So, the captain took a decision to offload the passengers, along with their infant. Since the passengers were travelling with an infant, IndiGo was happy to accommodate the other lady passenger and her child on the next flight free of cost, since they did not involve themselves in the fight. However, the family refused to take up the offer.”