Lok Sabha MP Rajesh Ranjan's alleged misbehaviour with a Jet Airways air hostess on a Patna-New Delhi flight on Tuesday once again highlights high-altitude nuisance faced by cabin crew.
This is the second instance of misbehaviour with an air hostess in less than a month and coincidentally the carrier is Jet Airways.
Ranjan, who is also known as Pappu Yadav, who was recently expelled from RJD, allegedly misbehaved with the air hostess when she asked him to follow the mandatory safety rules.
The situation, however, turned murkier when Yadav asked the air hostess to clean his bag on which he had dropped the dessert, The Times of India reports.
"While having lunch on the flight, 1A (Pappu's seat number) dropped the dessert on his bag kept near his feet and asked the crew to clean it. (He) told the crew MPs don't do this work. 1A took off his chappal and showed it (to) the crew. Told the crew he would hit them with it if the crew told him anything," a written complaint by the air hostess to Jet Airways said.
When the matter was reported to flight captain Rajesh Singh Sehgal, he asked the Delhi Air Traffic Control to put the flight (9W 728) ahead of others for landing.
While disembarking, Ranjan started shouting at the crew, forcing the captain to come out of the cockpit. He requested the security personnel, waiting outside, to take Yadav away.
"For landing, 1A refused to upright his seat and unfastened his seat belt... After opening doors, 1A manhandled me and pushed me aside with force to get out of the aircraft.... I went to the cockpit to inform the captain. I was in tears and physically hurt," the air hostess said in her complaint.
"The captain immediately came out of the cockpit and instructed passengers to return to their seats as Mr Rajesh Ranjan was shouting on top of his voice — 'I'm an MP and you can't do anything to me'," she further said.
Yadav refuted the allegations, saying the "crew had an issue with four other business class passengers", not with him.
The airhostess is yet to file a police complaint.
Ranjan, a member of Jan Adhikar Party, is a Member of Parliament from Madhepura, Bihar.
On 18 May, a Jet Airways air hostess complained that a drunk passenger "touched her inappropriately" on board a Varanasi-Delhi flight.
