When it comes to disability awareness and better access to resources for the disabled, India has made many strides in recent years. However, a recent incident highlights the fact that we are perhaps not where we should be when it comes to providing access to all human rights to the disabled in India. On May 7, a specially-abled boy who was travelling with his parents, was barred from boarding a Hyderabad-bound IndiGo flight at Ranchi airport. The incident came to light when an eye-witness, Manish Gupta, shared an account of the incident on social media, and the post went viral.
“The Indigo staff announced that the child would not be allowed to take flight. That he was a risk to other passengers. That he would have to become ‘normal’, before he could be travel-worthy. And the staff then went on to state something on lines of ‘behaviours such as this, and that of drunk passengers, deems them unfit to travel,” Gupta’s post revealed. An uproar followed at the airport, with other passengers saying they did not have any problems with the child boarding the flight, but ultimately, neither the boy nor his parents could board said flight.
Following this, many have joined in to criticise the stance of the IndiGo staff, and the matter has escalated into a nation-wide discussion on disability awareness. Civil Aviation Minister Jyotiraditya M Scindia has initiated an inquiry into the incident, and also shared his opinion on Twitter. “There is zero tolerance towards such behaviour,” the minister wrote. “No human being should have to go through this! Investigating the matter by myself, post which appropriate action will be taken.” The National Commission for Protection of Child Rights has also assured people that proper action will be taken to deal with this incident. “An incident of misbehaviour with a specially-abled child by staff of IndiGo at Ranchi airport has come to the fore. “Cognizance is being taken for appropriate action,” the NCPCR chairperson, Priyank Kanoongo, wrote in a tweet in Hindi.
The concerned airline company, however, is steadfast in its belief that its staff took the right call, as the child in question was in an agitated state due to an uncomfortable ride to the airport as well as all the hassles of security checks. “In view of the safety of passengers, a specially-abled child could not board the flight with his family on 7 May, as he was in a state of panic.” Their statement says that the ground staff waited for the child to calm down till the last minute, but to no avail—a statement that eye-witnesses have contested saying that the parents did help calm down the boy. IndiGo’s statement also reveals that the family was made comfortable with a hotel stay, and were able to fly out to Hyderabad the next day. “We regret the inconvenience caused to the passengers. IndiGo prides itself on being an inclusive organisation, be it for employees or its customers; and over 75,000 specially-abled passengers fly with IndiGo every month,” the airline’s statement added.