- A wheelchair-bound woman recently took to Twitter after she faced alleged mistreatment during a security screening at Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj International Airport (CSIA) in Mumbai.
- The woman, Viral Modi, who is also a disability rights activist, tweeted that she was repeatedly asked to get up from her wheelchair by security personnel even after she denied such requests.
- Jayant Sinha, Minister of State for Civil Aviation, tweeted an apology, asking the Central Industrial Security Force (
CISF ) to look into the matter.
The woman,
According to her tweet, she was repeatedly asked to get up from her wheelchair and even after she told the security official that she could not. Due to the insensitive behaviour, she also suffered a cramp as a woman security officer forcefully lifted her leg.
I’m traveling to London from Mumbai via @jetairways and I had the most horrible experience with the CISF staff. After scanning my wheelchair, this insensitive woman was forcing me to stand up, even when I told her repeatedly that I couldn’t. Pt. 1
— Virali Modi (@Virali01) November 26, 2018 ]]>She kept forcing me to stand up and then she went on to say that she’d lift me up and get someone else to pat my backside. After many denied requests, she lifted my leg up forcefully, causing a major cramp. Pt. 2
— Virali Modi (@Virali01) November 26, 2018 ]]>Modi, also a disability rights activist, called attention to more appropriate alternatives that are in use by other airports to help with such screenings.
“Every other international airport has chemical strips to check the wheelchair and shoes, a disabled passenger doesn’t need to get out of their wheelchair. So why in Mumbai’s International Airport?” she tweeted.
In his tweet, Sinha also asked the Central Industrial Security Force to look into the matter again.
Really sorry for the suffering that you went through @CISFHQrs @CSIAMumbai please follow up #AirSewa https://t.co/34aVKFf3Ni
— Jayant Sinha (@jayantsinha) November 27, 2018 ]]>The CISF had responded to the Twitter thread saying that it was just part of the mandatory pre-departure security check and that the staff was polite to her.
The security check was reportedly carried out as per procedure and was unintentional. CISF responded that security is important to them but it takes care of the specially-abled flyers equally.
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