Chennai: At a time when ‘women empowerment’ happens to be at the focal point of the nation, the ‘strip search’ allegations by Spicejet air-hostesses has come as a shocker to all.
This primarily so since the accusation has been levelled against the airline’s own security personnel itself. What’s more humiliating is the fact that the one of the air hostess was even told to remove her sanitary napkin, despite her being on the menstrual cycle, says a NDTV report.
The search, it is alleged has been going on over the last few days, immediately after deboarding from flights as the airline suspects that cash collected on board for food and other sales are being swindled by the cabin crew staff.
A protest held by the staffers, a video of which has emerged, led to the delay of two late night flights, including an international flight at the Chennai airport. It was only after an the SpiceJet management assured them that a high-level meeting would be held at the airline’s Gurgaon office on Monday to discuss the matter that the flights finally took off, after a delay of nearly an hour.
One of the protesting staffer could be heard saying, “Someone touched me inappropriately, made me feel very uncomfortable. I was naked,” in the video.
As per the report, few of the staff have also written mails to the management questioning them abouth this alleged mistreatment being meted out to them.
“Is this the policy to remove your sanitary pad, touch private parts?” writes a woman. “We cabin crew are hired majorly for safety reasons of the fellow passengers but what about our respect and safety? We talk about rape and molestation, is this any less?” another complained.
“On informing the base official that I wasn’t comfortable and I’m on my menses she still checked my panty; they pressed my breasts. I’ve lost my self-respect… Cabin crew is the brand ambassador. We are humiliated as if we have done some robbery,” one of the air hostesses said in the email.
It is also gathered that one of the top officials at the airline has said that such strict spot checks was necessary in order to identify the ‘corrupt’ employees, in the wake of suspicions that few of cabin crew staff are taking cash and company material from flights. Such search will ensure that an honest employee is not blamed for the act of others, he added.
Meanwhile another airline official from Chennai refuted the allegations levelled by the cabin crew as ‘baseless’. He however, refused to comment further on the matter.
