Kozhikode: Man in trouble over sleeping airhostess in Air India flight

Kozhikode: The passenger of an Air-India flight from Sharjah to Karipur on March 27 has landed in trouble after he posted on the social media the video of an airhostess who slept on the flight.

The Nadakkavu police registered a case on August 16 against the passenger, K.M. Basheer of Kozhikode, a businessman and president of Malabar Development Forum, based on complaint filed by the airhostess settled in Kozhikode.

The case was transferred to Karipur police station and he was booked under KP Act 119 (punishment for atrocities against women, taking photos or videos affecting the reasonable privacy of women).

Mr Basheer uploaded the video initially in English on July 31 and in Malayalam on Tuesday after which it went viral.

He said he had done it after the Air India authorities did not take any action against the airhostess for sleeping while on duty though he had forwarded a complaint to the chairman and managing director (CMD).

The flight, AI 998, had taken off at 12.30 am (UAE time) from Sharjah. Mr Basheer said he saw the airhostess sleeping in a space between the exit door and the toilet.

“I noticed somebody snoring and found that the airhostess was sleeping there and took the video in my tablet, which was on offline mode. It is breach of security as the safety of the passengers lies in the hands of the flight crew.

Remember the Emirates flight that crash-landed in Dubai airport early this month. The alert crew helped the passengers on board,” said Mr Basheer, a frequent air traveller.

“It is almost five months since the incident took place. So I decided the world should know about the incidents taking place inside our airlines,” said Mr Basheer.

However, he was flooded with online abuses for uploading the video of a woman employee. He insisted that he did not post an abusive video as the airhostess had fully covered her body with blankets. The Air India officials were not available for comments.