No action yet against pilot for harassment

BENGALURU: Seventy-three days after a 21-year-old college student, heading to Pune, was allegedly harassed by an off-duty pilot on an Akasa Air flight, no action has been initiated against the accused. Upset by the airline's inaction despite her complaint, the woman now regrets not having approached police over the matter.

The incident took place on Akasa Air flight Q, which the woman had boarded in Bengaluru on October 1. In her complaint to the airline, she stated that she was seated in 32C when a man in his mid-30s called her to the rear-end of the aircraft near the crew station with the help of air stewardesses onboard.

"He was wearing an Akasa Air identity card and told me he was a pilot and heading to Pune to report to duty. Forcing me into a conversation, persuading me into staying at the spot, and sipping and offering me an alcoholic drink, which he claimed the crew could bring into a domestic flight with ease, he made me extremely uncomfortable," the woman had said.

According to her, the accused also forced her into changing her seat and followed her even after she disembarked in Pune, urging her to spend the evening with him. Following the distressing experience, she took to social media the same night to narrate her flight experience, which initially received an inquiry from Akasa Air. The subsequent day, she apprised the airline of the incident.

Following a media report on the matter on October 17, Akasa authorities contacted the woman and promised to take action. But the student didn't hear from the airline thereafter.