IndiGo assault: Eyewitness and co-passenger says it was wrong of passenger to hit pilot

NEW DELHI: The co-passenger who shot the video of the incident of assault against an IndiGo co-pilot on board the aircraft, has alleged that the pilot, instead of “understanding and supporting” the passengers’ concern, was blaming them for asking questions.

In a video posted on her Instagram handle, the Russian Indian actress Evgenia Belskaia said that hitting a pilot was unfortunate. “Of course, it’s wrong to hit the pilot, 100 per cent, I will not agree with that. But why was he blaming passengers in this, he was supposed to understand and support them”, the actress said in the video.

An irate passenger ran up from the last row and punched an Indigo Airlines Captain in the aircraft as the Captain was making delay announcement. The flight apparently was delayed for 13 long hours!! #Indigo #IndigoAirlines pic.twitter.com/tOfEvi8Qzf

— Rosy (@rose_k01) January 14, 2024

Sharing the initial incident, where the pilot could be seen assaulted by a passenger on board an Indigo flight, she said, “So the story is my team; they had a flight Delhi to Goa…7.40 am. They came to the airport by let’s say 6 am. They came up very early, they came there. Then the IndiGo flight was saying like every hour, it’s a one-hour delay, two-hour delay. So like this, they’ve been waiting for ten hours”.

“Then they told them that they can enter the airplane. They enter the airplane and, in an airplane, they’d be sitting for two hours waiting, so people were really angry. And of course, they’ve been asking questions from the crew, why it’s like this (and) when we going to leave and all”.

She alleged that the pilot attempted to blame passengers for the delay, which is why according to the pilot the flight got further delayed. “Then this pilot coming and saying that ‘you guys are asking too many questions. Because of you we missed our line/our turn. Now you will have to wait more”.

Meanwhile, the accused passenger was declared ‘unruly’, the airlines said in a statement on Monday. As per an IndiGo statement, the accused passenger was handed over to the local law enforcement agencies for further action. The statement further mentioned that an internal committee has been formed to address the matter and the inclusion of the passenger in the ‘no-fly list’ is under consideration.

The incident occurred on January 14 inside flight number 6E 2175 which was departing from Delhi to Goa. In a viral video, the agitated passenger, later identified as Sahil Kataria, was seen punching the co-pilot, identified as Anup Kumar, while he was announcing on board about flight delays. In the video, the co-pilot can be seen making an announcement. The passenger, wearing a yellow jacket, runs up to the captain and slaps him on the face.

A flight attendant standing beside the co-pilot immediately comes to his rescue and stands in front of him. The passenger is then pulled behind by another man as commotion spreads inside the cabin.

As per government rules released in 2017 on unruly passengers, if an airline finds a passenger’s behavior unruly, the pilot has to file a complaint, which is to be investigated by an internal panel. During the probe, the airline can ban the flyer for a maximum of 30 days. The committee has to decide on the matter within 30 days and specify how long the flyer can be kept from traveling. (ANI)