In a distressful incident, a woman with a disability was allegedly insulted by the security personnel at the security check at the Kolkata Airport. The woman who was in a wheelchair was asked by the security at Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose International Airport to stand up not once, but thrice. The woman took to X and expressed her ordeal and the distress it caused.
As per reports, the woman is a resident of Gurugram and is identified as Arushi Singh. She was travelling to Delhi via Kolkata when the incident happened. Arushi frequently travels from Kolkata to Delhi for work-related errands and has never faced such disrespect at the airport.
What happened at the security clearance?
On February 1, Arushi took to X and wrote, "Yesterday evening [January 31] during the security clearance at Kolkata airport, the officer asked me (a wheelchair user) to stand up, not once but thrice. First she asked me to get up and walk two steps into the kiosk. Told her I can’t as I have a disability. Inside she again asked me to stand up. I said I can’t. She said sirf 2 minute khade ho jao. I explained again that I have a disability by birth."
The episode lasted for a minute or two, leaving Arushi "exasperated and shouting while it lasted." She told the media, "I had to use the supporting walls to push the wheelchair on my own to exit from the kiosk. The security personnel did not even say sorry for her behaviour and the wheelchair assistant from the airlines was busy elsewhere.”
Delay in getting wheelchair assistance
Moreover, she also said that her frustration was partly caused by the delay in getting wheelchair assistance at the airport. Her flight was scheduled for 7:30 pm. Before entering the terminal building, she had to wait 20 minutes in her personal wheelchair for an assistant who could move her to the wheelchair provided by the airline. "The security personnel at the gate tried calling the counter but there was no response. After 20 minutes, he himself wheeled me in," Arushi said.
When she reached the security check-in, there were no other passengers. “I have never faced such a situation anywhere else. Usually once I tell them (about my disability at birth), the security personnel never ask again. I don’t know why this woman kept insisting." Arushi added.
She also said that the delays were mainly caused at the Kolkata airport. “The personal wheelchair I use has to be checked-in and a smaller wheelchair is provided by the airlines. At the Calcutta airport, a call has to be made at the airlines counter for wheelchair assistance. Only on getting the call do they provide the service. There is often a delay in getting the wheelchair,” Arushi added.
The incident has left Arushi furious and distressed. She wrote on X, "Does the CISF manual on airport security ask to insult people with disability? This appalling lack of empathy has left me shaken, furious. There have been instances in the past too and shows that Kolkata airport has learnt nothing from the past." She will be writing to the CISF authorities too about the incident.
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