Italian flyer hits cabin crew member on Vistara flight, held | India News

MUMBAI: The lawyer of an Italian woman passenger who was arrested for unruly behaviour on an Abu Dhabi-Mumbai flight argued in court that she had wanted to complain about the services on the Vistara flight and a ruckus erupted with the cabin crew.
Paola Perruccio was granted bail on a Rs 25,000 deposit. Her lawyer Prabhakar Tripathi told TOI, “Details have been submitted before the court that Perruccio wanted to complain against Vistara because of the bad services provided to her. She was going to the washroom but was not allowed. The situation arose because of an on-flight ruckus between her and the crew members which ended in a case being filed against her. The court has also been told that police have seized her passport illegally.”
Police seized Perruccio’s passport and also filed a chargesheet in the case after producing her before a court in Andheri. She was released on bail.
DCP (zone VIII) Dikshit Gedam said the chargesheet was filed in record time after completing the probe and recording statements of the crew and witnesses, the supporting technical evidence and the flyer’s medical report. “The flyer has been booked for an act endangering life or personal safety and other bailable offences under the IPC and The Aircraft Rules, 1937,” he said.
“The preliminary report of Perruccio’s medical examination showed she was inebriated during the journey, though the exact cause of the incident is yet to be known,” said a police officer.
The case was filed on a complaint from Vistara’s cabin crew member LS Khan (24), who was attacked by the flyer. In the complaint, Khan said, “Perruccio was in seat 11C in the economy class when she suddenly ran to the business class and sat on seat No. 1. She punched my face when I requested her not to sit in business class. When another cabin crew member ran to help me and told the flyer she could not misbehave on board, she spat on her.”
Khan said the matter didn’t end there. “Perruccio…removed her clothes on board and kept walking in the open space on board. The cabin crew tried to calm her and said her act was disturbing other flyers. But she continued hurling abuses. When the crew went closer, they realised Perruccio was drunk. Meanwhile, senior cabin crew member A Seth informed the flight pilot Aditya Lohar and on his instructions, the crew overpowered Perruccio and tied her to a seat at the rear end of the flight till the flight landed at 4.53am.”
The chargesheet said, “The crew then handed her over to the Vistara Airline Company’s security officer Sayeli Dixit before she was handed over to police.”
A Vistara spokesperson said, “In view of continued unruly conduct and violent behaviour, the captain issued a warning card and made a decision to restrain the customer. The pilot made regular announcements to assure the other customers on board of their safety. In accordance with the guidelines and our stringent SOPs, the security agencies on-ground were informed to take immediate action upon arrival. The incident has been reported to relevant authorities as per SOPs.”