Just days after a differently-abled woman was allegedly denied a wheelchair by Air India, another shocking case of discrimination against the differently abled has emerged. A woman professional said she was forced to remove her jeans and remove her prosthetic leg at the Mumbai airport because security personnel insisted it was protocol.
24-year-old Antara Telang was travelling from Mumbai to Bengaluru on January 30 on a flight at 5 am, when she was shocked by the security personnel’s demand to unbutton her jeans and remove her prosthetic leg, which was then taken for scanning.
And she tweeted about her ordeal:
@CSIAMumbai @MumbaiCentral forced to take off jeans, had prosthetic leg passed through a scanner, and brought to tears. Happy journey to me
— Antara Telang (@AntaraT) January 30, 2016
@CSIAMumbai @MumbaiCentral Have never faced this at any other indian airport.
— Antara Telang (@AntaraT) January 30, 2016
@CSIAMumbai @MumbaiCentral love how I was admonished for ‘not cooperating’ with protocol that’s ‘not humiliating to disabled passengers’
— Antara Telang (@AntaraT) January 30, 2016
Telang said that she has faced the same difficulty several times at Mumbai airport, while security personnel on Delhi and Bengaluru airports always arrange for an EDD machine to check her leg, The Indian Express reports.
She later tweeted about her excellent experience at Bengaluru’s Kempegowda airport where her leg was checked with an EDD machine. She also thanked people who responded to her tweets.
Thanks all for the response yday. No thx to @CSIAMumbai who’s still not felt the need to reply as to why they discriminate against disabled
— Antara Telang (@AntaraT) January 31, 2016
As usual, excellent experience at @kempegowda_air – prosthetic checked with an etd machine, courteous staff. @CSIAMumbai you can learn here
— Antara Telang (@AntaraT) February 1, 2016
But this was how the CISF responded:
“Already the Mumbai airport is on high alert and due to security concerns at the airport the female officer asked the passenger to do so after an indication by the metal detector. The officer was doing her duty but the passenger took offense.”
