NRI mum, kids pushed at airport

Kolkata: A misplaced security check tag triggered furore at Kolkata airport on Friday morning. An NRI family and a CISF officer were caught up in
a heated exchange that turned nasty and ended with the NRI scientist's wife and children, aged 11 and eight, sprawled on the floor.
While Gauravmoy Nath alleges that the CISF inspector manhandled his wife Zinia and their daughters Sohini and Ushani, the force denied the charge. The missing tag was later found on the floor near the X-ray machine, proving that Nath's family had indeed followed security procedures.
The fracas started around 10.20 am, when passengers on the Emirates flight to Dubai queued up at the departure gate for boarding. A CISF jawan found that the security tag and seal were missing from Nath's waist pouch. Nath explained he had put the pouch through the X-ray machine and the tag might have fallen off somewhere.
But the jawan turned him back to the security check area to get the pouch checked. The Naths were on their way home to Antibes in France Riviera and were to take a connecting flight from Dubai. The scientist was upset at having to go through security screening again for no fault of his and complained to CISF inspector on duty, S K Rai.
The officer allegedly gave a blunt reply, which sparked a heated argument. Within moments, the situation spiralled out of control. Everyone's attention was drawn to the high-decibel squabble when they suddenly saw Nath's wife and daughters fall down.
"They manhandled me and my family and pushed Zinia, Sohini and Ushani," Nath said. Eyewitnesses backed the allegation. An Airports Authority of India official told TOI: "After a heated exchange, the inspector asked the passenger to return the boarding pass. When the latter refused, the inspector tried to snatch it from him by force. That's when the passenger's wife leapt into the melee. In the jostle that ensued, she and the kids hit the floor."
It was only when other passengers protested that senior airport and CISF officials intervened and attempted to resolve the matter. The flight, with 284 passengers, including the Naths, took off at 11.30 am, 25 minutes behind schedule.
CISF commandant Jayati Ghosh said the incident was "minor" but that it had escalated because the passenger was "irritated".
17/01/09 Times of India

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Categories: Airports Jan 2009, Foreign Jan 2009