The aviation ministry said these are the cases that have come to the notice of the Director General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) and that the airlines have taken suitable action on them.
Private carrier Spicejet, which began operations in 2005 has recorded six such incidents. A spokesperson for the airline said it has a very strict policy in dealing with such incidents. "Any misbehaviour of any sort against our crew will not be tolerated and the flier is offloaded," she said.
"The cabin crew is told to report such incidents to the pilot immediately and alert the manager as soon as the flight lands."
The spokesperson referred to an incident in 2010 when members of a football team from Goa were offloaded at the Mumbai airport for such misbehaviour. The two players and a goal keeper for Churchill Brothers were on their way from Goa to Kolkata via Mumbai for their I-League game against Mohun Bagan on January 5, 2010. They were offloaded from SpiceJet flight SG 804. The trio was arrested by the police after the airhostess filed a complaint of molestation against them. They were eventually let off on bail.
Such behaviour, however, is not restricted to passengers. Two cases of indecent behaviour by pilots have been reported to the DGCA. On March 2 last year, a pilot from Air India misbehaved with a crew member in the cockpit while operating a flight from Delhi to Kolkata. The airhostess reported the case to the Delhi police and the airline has kept the erring pilot off flying duties till date. In another instance, a Spicejet pilot was suspended by the DGCA and his services terminated by the airline after he misbehaved with a female cabin crew member in the cockpit of a Delhi Bengaluru flight on September 3, 2010.
However, a former airhostess said not all such incidents are taken seriously. "I have experienced several such incidents over the years and no action was ever taken. In 2010, a passenger who misbehaved not only with me but also with two other passengers got away scot free. Despite pursuing the matter to the highest level, there was not even an acknowledgement of the incident," the woman said.
DGCA sources said some of the incidents were often minor. "Cabin crew often end up reporting situations where aircraft held up in queue for takeoff, that lead to unpleasant exchanges with passengers who want to use the washroom," a senior DGCA official said.
Sources also said that "action" as mentioned in the ministry's reply may not necessarily mean police action. "Not all the complaints are taken forward by the airlines. In several cases, all that is done is that the passenger is off loaded and handed over to the CISF. The airlines may not have the inclination to pursue the matter with the police due to lack of time," an aviation source said.
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