Mumbai: An elderly Swedish passenger who was accused of allegedly molesting a cabin crew member while traveling on an IndiGo flight from Bangkok was granted bail on Friday, officials said. The Swedish national, identified as Erik Harald Jonas Westberg (63), was traveling on a flight from Bangkok to Mumbai on Thursday.
During the four-hour flight, Westberg allegedly molested a 24-year-old cabin crew member in an inebriated state. The airline crew handed Westberg over to the local police as soon as the flight landed in Mumbai. A case was registered against him based on the complaint by the molested crew member.
He was produced in the court on Friday and subsequently released on a Rs 20,000 bail surety. However, he needs to be present during the court hearings. Several instances of unruly passengers onboard flights have been reported in recent days since the Air India urination imbroglio.
On Thursday, a passenger was found smoking a cigarette in the lavatory of a Gorakhpur-bound Indigo flight. He was arrested soon after the plane landed. According to sources, the crew members rushed to the lavatory on hearing the fire alarm that was triggered on account of the smoke.
Also read: Bihar man caught smoking cigarette onboard Indigo flight, arrested
Earlier, on March 23, two IndiGo flyers traveling from Dubai to Mumbai were arrested for allegedly being drunk and misbehaving with the crew. Earlier in January, two passengers were deboarded from a Go First flight in Goa. The passengers were allegedly misbehaving with a cabin crew member.
Such incidents have hit headlines ever since a mid-air urinating incident in an international Air India flight sparked outrage among fliers late last year. A man allegedly urinated on an elderly woman in an inebriated condition. He was traveling in business class on a New York to Delhi flight on November 26 last year. The airline had initially let the passenger go after the flight landed. However, when the incident came to light after a social media post, the Bengaluru-based man was arrested. The incident also led to a hefty fine for the Tata-owned airline and led to the suspension of the crew members onboard the flight for not reporting the incident.
