Passenger spews venom on Muslim cabin crew over terror attack

Mumbai: A Jet Airways' cabin crew member became a victim of hate speech when a passenger enquired about her religion and then unleashed a tirade
on how members of her community were responsible for the Mumbai terror attack. No complaint was filed against the passenger.
The incident took place on board the Jet Airways Aurangabad-Mumbai flight 9W-114 on Sunday. "There were about 40 to 50 passengers on board the Boeing 737 and everything was fine till this passenger asked the cabin crew her name when she was serving him,'' said a passenger, requesting not to be named. "We heard him ask and found it strange since flight attendants have name tags on their uniform.''
The next question was: Are you Muslim? "She said yes, and this man, who was about 35 years old, started shouting at her,'' he recalled. "The man said, `Why the bloody hell are you Muslims doing this to our country?'''
"We could see she was stunned, but she calmly replied, `Sir, this is my country too.' He shot back, `I don't think so, because people from your community are behind these attacks.' She was on the verge of tears, but said bravely, `Sorry Sir, they don't belong to India. They are not Indians.' After that she quietly moved away, avoiding further conversation. We could see that she did not go towards the cockpit to complain to the commander about it. It was very embarrassing for the rest of us. We felt like apologising to her, but were too taken aback by the incident,'' the passenger recounted.
"At a time like this, our employers should come forward and ensure us a safe and secure working environment. The attacks were very tragic and the deceased included people from many religions, including Muslims,'' said a senior cabin crew member of Air India. "Insensitive passengers should be dealt with strictly. Airlines cannot leave their crew vulnerable to such attacks and should issue clear instructions on how to deal with such passengers.''
04/12/08 Manju V/Times of India

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Categories: Jet Airways Dec 2008