At Air India, woman pilot accuses her commander of harassing her

An Air India spokesperson has said that the national carrier has initiated a high-level enquiry into the complaint filed by the woman

New Delhi: An Air India woman pilot has filed a case of sexual harassment against a colleague and commander, who she claimed asked several indecent questions to her about her sexual relations with her husband. The woman has submitted a written complaint to the airline management. An Air India spokesperson has said that the national carrier has initiated a high-level enquiry into the complaint filed by the woman.

The complainant has said in the letter, "I was subject to sexual harassment by Captain…. who was my instructor for CRM loft." Both the pilots in question are based out of Delhi and had gone to Hyderabad on May 5 for training. That is when the alleged incident is said to have taken place.

What happened?

The woman pilot claimed that the accused had called her to his hotel room on the pretext of giving her notes after training and then had later asked her out for dinner. "We went to Chilli's restaurant and this is where my ordeal started. He started telling me how depressed and unhappy he was in his married life. He went on to discuss other women in the airline and made lewd remarks on them. He also asked me how I coped with my husband living away and whether I didn't need to have sex every day. He asked me if I masturbated etc. At some point, I told him that I didn't want to talk about all this and called a cab. In the half hour wait for the cab his behaviour worsened," she wrote in the complaint.

'The ordeal didn't end there'

The pilot also recounted how the ordeal didn't end there as the commander kept calling her in her room and when she did not answer, he threatened her via text messages, telling her that he would come to her room. At this, she told him that she was very disturbed by his behaviour. To this, the commander responded by saying that he was providing her with 'options.'

The pilot said that the exchange left her shocked, humiliated and scared.