The world is the same for everyone, with disabilities or without. The number of disabled people is high enough but often people with disabilities have to face problems. Recently, two disable activists are said to allegedly face humiliation at Kolkata airport when travelling to New Delhi.
One of the flyers was Jeeje Ghosh, who was the Election Commission’s poster girl and has cerebral palsy. She was told by GoAir officials that she cannot travel unaccompanied. She had to wait for more than an hour and felt humiliated as she traveled the world all alone.
Talking to Times Of India, Jeeje Ghosh said:
“I had requested for a wheelchair, but that took ages to arrive. When I contacted the airline, the person who answered said they were short-staffed. When I finally managed to reach the check-in counter, the staff said I could not fly unescorted and that I would have to wait till others arrived.”
Kuhu Das who wears callipers on her leg and a polio survivor is also said by CISF officials to take off her pants for an inspection after the metal detector beeped during security checking.
“For a moment, I couldn’t believe my ears. It was absolutely shocking and utterly humiliating. I have taken so many flights but never been asked to do what the officer did on Sunday.”
Both of them are joined by Sampa Dasgupta, Kuhu Das and mental health activist Ratnaboli Ray and are on their way to Delhi to attend a United Nations Conference on disability.
A CISF official said that we followed the standard procedure. The issue was solved with the woman officer who asked to remove trousers. There was no intent to embarrass her.
GoAir has also apologised for the inconvenience faced by the passengers at the Kolkata airport.
We would like to sincerely apologise for the inconvenience caused to Ms Jeeja Ghosh & Ms Kuhu Das during check-in process at #KolkataAirport. The matter is being strongly taken up with concerned teams to ensure that such incidents does not happen again.@AAI_Official @MoCA_GoI
— Kolkata Airport (@aaikolairport) October 21, 2019
