Jindal Group executive booked under Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita for alleged sexual harassment of co-passenger in flight

A case was filed against a senior executive of a Jindal Group company for allegedly molesting a female co-passenger on a Kolkata-Abu Dhabi flight, PTI reported. 

A case was filed under Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita sections 74 (assault or use of criminal force with intent to outrage modesty) and 75 (uttering words or making gestures or exhibiting any object in any form insulting the modesty of a woman), the officer said.  

The FIR was registered on the basis of a complaint lodged by the woman’s parents at the Airport police station on the northern outskirts of Kolkata on July 20, an officer of the Bidhanngar City Police told PTI. “We have started an investigation into the matter,” he added. 

In a series of posts on X (formally Twitter), the woman had alleged how the 65-year-old top executive, initiated a conversation with her before allegedly showing her porn clips and then groped her, triggering an outrage. 

Sharing her harrowing experience that left her “shocked” and “scared”, the woman wrote that they engaged in a “normal conversation” about their backgrounds, hobbies and families. However, the situation took a disturbing turn when the man took out his phone to show her “some movie clips”. 

“He whips out his phone and earphones to show me porn! He started groping me. I was frozen in shock and scared. I eventually ran off to the washroom and complained to the air staff,” the woman claimed. 

The woman lauded the prompt responsiveness of the Etihad Airways crew in taking action against the accused. However, she alleged that the senior executive kept calling the airline staff to ask about her whereabouts. The airline staff also informed the Abu Dhabi police, who took the accused “as soon as the gates of the aircraft opened”.  

“I could not proceed with a complaint because I would have missed my connecting flight to Boston,” the woman further said. She had tagged Jindal Steel and Power Chairman Naveen Jindal in one of her tweets, which read, “I am also afraid of how this molester must be treating his female employees from a place of power.” 

Jindal Steel and Power Chairman Naveen Jindal on July 19 promised to investigate allegations of molestation against the executive, saying his group has a zero-tolerance policy in such matters. 

The executive has been sent on administrative leave and a third-party investigation has been started to probe the matter, a statement issued on July 20 by a Jindal Group company said.