Casteist Remarks, Unfathomable Threats: Pilot responds after being accused of assault
According to the statement, the issue was misrepresented as a personal incident as a "pilot vs passenger" dispute.
PTC News Desk: The Air India Express pilot broke silence after a passenger accused him of assaulting at Delhi airport. A law firm has put out a statement on behalf of Captain Virender Sejwal.
According to the statement, the issue was misrepresented as a personal incident as a "pilot vs passenger" dispute.
The statement says social media outrage is based on an "one-sided, incomplete misrepresentation of facts". "Mr. Ankit Dewan has selectively presented facts to create a false narrative, wrongly implying a professional conflict and attempting to sensationalise a settled issue, Whereas casteist remarks were made against Capt Sejwal, and absolutely unfathomable threats were made to female members of his family including a child," it says.
Passenger Ankit Dewan has claimed that he was assaulted by Captain Sejwal at Delhi Airport’s Terminal 1. According to Dewan, he was travelling with his family, including his four-month-old daughter, and airport staff directed them to use the staff security check-in line because the infant was in a stroller.
"The staff was cutting the queue ahead of me. On calling them out, Capt. Virender, who himself was doing the same thing, asked me if I was anpadh (uneducated), and couldn't read the signs that said this entry was for staff. A verbal scuffle broke out," Dewan said in a post on X.
"Not able to exercise restraint, the AIX [Air India Express] pilot proceeded to physically assault me, leaving me bloody. The blood in the photograph on his shirt is also mine," he added.
However, Captain Sejwal, in his statement, alleged that Dewan instigated the altercation by verbally abusing him without any provocation and continued to use abusive, demeaning and threatening language even after being asked to stop.
"The situation escalated into a physical altercation in which Capt Sejwal was also hurt; he also sustained injuries during the scuffle. CISF personnel intervened promptly, repeatedly told Mr. Dewan to calm down and stop abusing, yet he refused to relent and continued his misconduct in their presence," it says.