Indian family offloaded from British Airways flight 'over crying 3-yr-old'

TNN
August 9, 2018

New Delhi, Aug 9: An Indian family has alleged that a leading European airline offloaded them from the flight because their three-year-old child was crying. While the child’s mother had managed to comfort the child when the plane was taxiing for take off, the allegedly intimidating behaviour of a cabin crew while asking the child to be seated scared the kid even more and then he started sobbing inconsolably.

The aircraft then returned to the terminal and the Indian family, along with a few other Indians seated behind them, were offloaded. This alleged racial behaviour took place on British Airways London-Berlin flight (BA 8495) of July 23 with a 1984 batch officer of Indian Engineering Services currently posted in the road transport ministry and his family.

The joint secretary-level officer has now complained to aviation minister Suresh Prabhu, alleging “humiliation and racial behaviour” by the airline. ABritish Airways spokesperson said: “We take such claims like this extremely seriously and do not tolerate discrimination of any kind. We have started a full investigation and are in direct contact with the customer.”

The officer’s letter to Prabhu says: “After security announcement for seat belt, my wife fastened the seat belt to my three-year-old baby... (Seated on a separate seat) my son felt uncomfortable and started crying. My wife managed to (comfort) him by taking him in her arms…. male crew member approached us and started shouting.. scolded my son to go to his seat...” “...My son got terrified and started crying (inconsolably). (An)other Indian family sitting behind us offered the child some biscuits to console him. My wife again put the boy on his designated seat and fastened the seat belt even though he kept on crying...,” the letter says.

The aircraft then started taxiing to the runway. “(The) same crew member came again and shouted at my son that ‘you bloody keep quiet otherwise you will be thrown out of the window’ and we would be offloaded. We were petrified,” it adds.

The plane then returned to the terminal. The officer says the crew member called in security personnel to the aircraft who took away their boarding cards and of those seated behind them. “My family and other Indian family, which had offered biscuits to my son, were offloaded….,” the complaint said.

The family then made its own arrangement to travel from London City airport to London. “…the crew member made racist remarks and used words like ‘bloody’ about Indians…. I request to have the matter investigated and take strictest possible action,” he concludes.

Comments

Ali
 - 
Thursday, 9 Aug 2018

poor culture & cheap behaviour from london. if the educated perason behaves like this, what we can expect from others?? they are opportunists.  learn from great india even though you have stolen our kohinoorlike thieves, we satisfied with what we have... We are LAGAAN boys

Rajeev
 - 
Thursday, 9 Aug 2018

We should treat them also in same way. Embassy should do something. They need compensation

Ibrahim
 - 
Thursday, 9 Aug 2018

What our ministers can do is ignoring. US people humiliating many Indian famous personalities for airport customs checkup

Ramprasad
 - 
Thursday, 9 Aug 2018

If they offloaded only one family then it may not be racial issue. But Airlines people offloaded another family who offered biscuts

Danish
 - 
Thursday, 9 Aug 2018

100% racial discrimination behind the incident

Kumar
 - 
Thursday, 9 Aug 2018

British Airways advt shows they will treat us like anything. But in real nothing

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News Network
January 19,2020

President Donald Trump gave a new justification for killing Qassim Suleimani, telling a gathering of Republican donors that the top Iranian general was "saying bad things about our country" before the strike, which led to his decision to authorise his killing. "How much are we going to listen to?" Trump said on Friday, according to remarks from a fundraiser obtained by CNN.

With his typical dramatic flourish, Trump recounted the scene as he monitored the strikes from the White House Situation Room when Suleimani was killed. The president spoke in a ballroom at his Mar-a-Lago club in Palm Beach, Florida, at a Republican event that raised $10 million for Trump's 2020 campaign.

The January 3 killing of Suleimani prompted Iran to retaliate with missile strikes against US forces in Iraq days later and almost triggered a broad war between the two countries. "They're together sir," Trump said military officials told him. "Sir, they have two minutes and 11 seconds. No emotion. Two minutes and 11 seconds to live, sir. They're in the car, they're in an armoured vehicle. Sir, they have approximately one minute to live, sir. Thirty seconds. Ten, 9, 8 ...'"

"Then all of a sudden, boom," he said. "They're gone, sir. Cutting off, I said, where is this guy?" Trump continued. "That was the last I heard from him". It was the most detailed account that Trump has given of the drone strike, which has drawn criticism from some US lawmakers because neither the president nor his advisers have provided public information to back up their statements that Suleimani presented an "imminent" threat to US.

Trump's comments came a day after he warned Iran's supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei to be "very careful with his words". According to Trump, Khamenei's speech on Friday, in which he attacked the "vicious" US and described UK, France and Germany as "America's lackeys", was a mistake.

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Agencies
June 8,2020

New Delhi, Jun 8: Union Human Resource Development Minister Ramesh Pokhriyal Nishank has said that CBSE board results can be declared by August 15. The results of both class 10 and 12 will be declared at an interval of just a few days.

However, the decision to open schools will be taken after August keeping in mind the current COVID-19 situation. At present, the Ministry of Human Resource Development has not set any date for reopening schools.

Nishank said during a discussion "We hope that the results of both 10th and 12th class will be declared by August 15. These include the results of previous exams and the results of examinations in July."

On the issue of reopening of schools, Nishank said "after August the process of opening schools will be started."

A final decision in this regard will be taken only after assessing the prevailing conditions. According to the HRD ministry, after August, new sessions will also start in universities.

Meanwhile, the Arvind Kejriwal government in Delhi has also written to the HRD ministry on the subject of reopening schools. Delhi Education Minister Manish Sisodia said in the letter, "Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal said some time ago that we have to learn to live with coronavirus. So it would be better to open schools with proper safety measures."

Sisodia said that first of all, we have to assure every child that they are important to us. Everyone has equal rights over the physical and intellectual environment of his school. Education cannot progress beyond online classes only. It would be impossible to pursue education only by calling older children to school and keeping younger children at home.

Several private schools have also suggested measures to the HRD ministry to open schools and safety in schools during this period. However, the ministry is not in a hurry to reopen schools at present. According to senior officials of the ministry, at present, preparations are being made to conduct the remaining board exams of class 10 and 12 between July 1 and 15.

After the examinations, the first priority is to declare the results. Only then can the process of reopening school colleges begin.

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News Network
January 31,2020

New Delhi, Jan 31: The Supreme Court Friday dismissed the plea filed by one of the four death row convicts in the Nirbhaya gang-rape and murder case, Pawan Gupta, seeking review of its order rejecting his juvenility claim.

The review plea filed earlier in the day was taken up for consideration in-chamber by a bench comprising Justices R Banumathi, Ashok Bhushan and A S Bopanna. 

On January 20, the apex court had rejected the plea by Pawan who had challenged the Delhi High Court's order dismissing his juvenility claim.

Advocate A P Singh, who is representing Pawan in the case, said he filed a petition on his behalf seeking review of the top court's January 20 order on Friday.

While dismissing the plea, the top court had said there was no ground to interfere with the high court order that rejected Pawan's plea and his claim was rightly rejected by the trial court as also the high court.

It had said the matter was raised earlier in the review petition before the apex court which rejected plea of juvenility taken by Pawan and another co-accused Vinay Kumar Sharma and that order has attained finality.

Singh had argued that as per his school leaving certificate, he was a minor at the time of the offence and none of the courts, including trial court and high court, ever considered his documents.

Solicitor General Tushar Mehta, appearing for the Delhi Police, had said Pawan's claim of juvenility was considered at each and every judicial forum and it will be a travesty of justice if the convict is allowed to raise the claim of juvenility repeatedly and at this point of time.

The trial court on January 17 issued black warrants for the second time for the execution of all the four convicts in the case -- Mukesh Kumar Singh (32), Pawan (25), Vinay (26) and Akshay (31) -- in Tihar jail at 6 am on February 1. Earlier, on January 7, the court had fixed January 22 as the hanging date.

As of now, only Mukesh has exhausted all his legal remedies including the clemency plea which was dismissed by President Ram Nath Kovind on January 17 and the appeal against the rejection was thrown out by the Supreme Court on January 29.

Convict Akshay's curative petition was dismissed by the top court on January 30. Another death row convict Vinay moved mercy plea before President on January 29, which is pending.

Singh has also approached the trial court seeking stay on the execution scheduled on February 1, saying the legal remedies of some of the convicts are yet to be availed.

A 23-year-old paramedic student, referred to as Nirbhaya, was gang-raped and brutally assaulted on the intervening night of December 16-17, 2012, in a moving bus in south Delhi by six people before she was thrown out on the road.

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