Professor held on charge of sexually assaulting woman on Delhi-Mumbai flight

A 47-year-old professor was held on the charge of sexually harassing a woman doctor on a Delhi-Mumbai flight on Friday.

Mumbai: The police arrested a 47-year-old professor for allegedly sexually harassing a woman doctor on a Delhi-Mumbai flight on Frid. The incident took place on Wednesday, the police said. The 24-year-old victim and the accused were seated next to each other on the flight, which took off at 5.30 am from Delhi, the police said. "In her complaint, the woman doctor said that the accused touched her inappropriately sometime before the flight was about to land at the Mumbai airport," he said.

An argument broke out between the two passengers, following which the victim informed the flight's crew, who intervened. After the flight landed at the Mumbai airport, they went to Sahar police station, he added. Based on the complaint filed by the victim, a case of sexual harassment was registered against the professor and he was arrested, the police said. The accused was produced in a court, which granted him bail, he said, adding that a probe was on.

A similar incident took place in Dhabi- Chennai Indigo Flight on July 21. A young man from the Karaikudi area of Tamil Nadu has been accused of sexually harassing a woman passenger on board an Indigo Airlines passenger flight that landed at the Chennai airport from Abu Dhabi on Thursday, sources said. The accused has been arrested by the Chennai airport police even though he has denied any wrongdoing.

Panic spread inside the Indigo flight with 156 passengers on board as the woman screamed mid-air, sources said. As the fellow passengers asked her why she was screaming, the woman told them that the young man sitting behind her had inappropriately touched her several times. Sources said that the young man was severely reprimanded by the flight attendants and fellow passengers. The police said that a case has been registered against the accused under relevant sections of the Violence Against Women Act, Air Safety Act. The accused was produced in the Alandur court on Friday morning and sent to jail later. (with agency inputs)