‘You are not fit to fly aircraft, go and stitch slippers’: IndiGo pilot alleges caste-based abuse at work

A trainee pilot with IndiGo has filed a police complaint against three senior officials, accusing them of hurling casteist slurs at him at work.

 

An FIR has been registered against IndiGo officials Tapas Dey, Manish Sahni and Captain Rahul Patil under the SC/ST (Prevention of Atrocities) Act.

 

The 34-year-old trainee pilot had approached the Bengaluru police, who first registered a zero FIR and later transferred the case to Gurugram where the IndiGo is headquartered, reported NDTV.

 

A zero FIR is a procedural concept that allows the registration of an FIR in any police station within whose territorial limits a cognizable offence is not committed and subsequently transferring the FIR at the earliest to the appropriate police station.

 

In his complaint, the trainee pilot alleged that he was told by his senior officers that he was not fit to fly an aircraft.

 

"You are not fit to fly an aircraft, go back and stitch slippers. You are not even worthy of being a watchman here,” the officers were quoted as saying in the trainee pilot’s complaint, according to reports.

 

The alleged incident took place in April when he was summoned to a meeting at IndiGo’s office in Emaar Capital Tower 2 at Sector 24.

 

The connplainant also alleged unjustified salary cuts, forced retraining sessions and unwarranted warning letters.

 

‘Baseless claims’

 

The IndiGo strongly refuted the allegations and said the company upholds a zero-tolerance policy towards any form of discrimination.

 

“IndiGo upholds a zero-tolerance policy towards any form of discrimination, harassment, or bias and remains firmly committed to being an inclusive and respectful workplace. IndiGo strongly refutes these baseless claims and stands by its values of fairness, integrity, and accountability and will extend its support to the law enforcement agencies as required,” said an airline spokesperson.

India