Bhubaneswar: After an incident of discrimination against a specially-abled child by a staff member of IndiGo went viral on social media, Civil Aviation Minister Jyotiraditya Scindia said that there is zero tolerance towards such behaviour and promised to take appropriate action.
There is zero tolerance towards such behaviour. No human being should have to go through this! Investigating the matter by myself, post which appropriate action will be taken. https://t.co/GJkeQcQ9iW
— Jyotiraditya M. Scindia (मोदी का परिवार) (@JM_Scindia) May 9, 2022
An IndiGo manager allegedly did not allow a child with special needs to board the flight at Ranchi airport on Saturday. The incident came to light after an eye-witness shared the details of the incident on social media.
As per the eye-witness, the Indigo staff announced that the child would not be allowed to take the flight. That he was a risk to other passengers. That he would have to become ‘normal’, before he could be travel-worthy.
Many passengers opposed him and assured the staff that as co-travellers, they had no objection to the child and his parents boarding the flight. A delegation of doctors who were taking the same flight asked the ground staff to get the airport doctor and let him/ her take a call on the fitness of the child to travel. They offered to provide full support to the child and his parents if any health episode were to occur mid-air.
Other doctors, teachers, and government officials emerged from the widening ring of passengers. They held up their mobile phones with news articles, and Twitter posts on supreme court judgments on how no airline could discriminate against passengers with disabilities.
However, the IndiGo staff kept shouting that the child is uncontrollable and is in a state of panic. Despite several requests and threats, the staff did not allow the child to travel, and finally, the Indigo flight from Ranchi to Hyderabad departed leaving behind the child and his parents.
