Air India starts inquiry after pilot alleges sexual harassment by captain
The complaint said the incident occurred on May 5 when they had travelled to Hyderabad together for training.
Air India announced on Wednesday that it has set up a panel to investigate allegations of sexual harassment against a senior captain. The charges were levelled by a pilot who alleged that she was asked about her sexual relationship with her husband, PTI reported.
The complainant and the senior captain, who are both based out of Delhi, had travelled to Hyderabad for training on May 5, when the alleged incident occurred, she said in a written complaint to the management.
“As soon as the matter came to our notice, we immediately set up a high level inquiry,” an Air India spokesperson told the news agency.
She alleged that the senior captain suggested having dinner together after the training session. “I agreed as I had done a few flights with him and he seemed decent,” the complaint said, according to ANI.
They reached the restaurant around 8 pm, after which the captain began asking inappropriate questions, the woman said. “He started with telling me how depressed and unhappy he was in his married life,” the complaint stated, according to India Today. “He also asked me how I coped with my husband living away and whether I didn’t need to have sex every day.”
Soon after, the complaint said that she told the captain that she did not want to talk to him and left the restaurant. But, even after reaching the hotel, the man repeatedly called her room and even threatened to go to her room if she did not answer, she added in the complaint.
The pilot said that she was disturbed, shocked, and scared by the captain’s behaviour. She added that she felt “morally obliged” to report the incident to the airline so that such behaviour is not repeated in the future, PTI reported.