16 November,2009 11:35 AM IST | | Hemal Ashar
Of late, one has been reading reports about sexual harassment complaints being filed by passengers on board aircraft. A prominent and sensational case is the recent allegation by an air hostess about molestation by pilots on an Air India aircraft. In this case, it was the cabin crew and pilots that came to blows over the charge, mid-air. While the case is still under investigation, it has made big news because of the novel angle: molestation within the staff of the airline itself.
Often though it is the air hostess who is harassed sexually by passengers but the harassment is termed as part of the job. A senior pilot who refuses to be named cited how male passengers would use the plane's toilet and press the emergency button pretending to be in distress. When the air hostess opened it the passenger would smile, indicating he had pressed the button by mistake. Often, his trouser would be unbuttoned.u00a0
Then, there is the passenger who keeps calling the air hostess with inane demands water, blanket, food, sweets, information, drinks, simply anything that would ensure she is at his side answering requests.
The above passenger is simply put down as, 'demanding, irritating, irksome, a nuisance, a bother'. This is trivialising the matter. It is tantamount to telling a woman that the man who passed a remark about her anatomy is just a, 'harmless eve-teaser'. It is not harmless and it is not eve-teasing whatever that idiotic label means. It is sexual molestation, plane (pun intended) and simple. It can be both verbal and physical. Ask the victim about the devastating effects of both. The helplessness, rage and hate it brings about festers for long and sears the soul.
Some time ago, a woman passenger had also complained formally of molestation by a male passenger. It must have happened to more women who have stayed silent but it proved that women could be groped not just on streets, trains and buses but in aircraft too. One person suggested that the lowering of air fares has brought in a different kind of passenger into the aircraft. That is beside the point though.
The point is that women are speaking out, filing complaints, following up the case and it is about time too. Molesters are learning that the immunity that an airplane offers is deceptive. The long arm of the law stretches as far as 40,000 feet above the ground.
