A South Korean national has registered an FIR against a staffer at the Bengaluru Kempegowda International Airport for alleged sexual harassment on the pretext of routine frisking on January 19 when the woman was due to fly to her country of origin.
The KIAL Airport police arrested the accused after registering a case against him and initiated an investigation.
“An incident of sexual harassment of a South Korean woman under the pretext of inspection has been reported at the Kempegowda International Airport, Bengaluru. An airport staffer has been arrested for sexually harassing a foreign woman who had come to the airport to travel to Korea. During the ticket inspection, the staffer said that a beeping sound was coming from the woman’s bag and asked her to be checked separately. He took the woman to the men’s toilet. There, he touched her inappropriately under the pretext of inspection,” the KIAL Airport police station officials said on Wednesday.
The woman complained to the airport security staff, who immediately detained the accused and handed him over to the airport police. The CCTV footage retrieved from the scene confirmed the same.
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“A case has been registered against the accused under Section 75 of the BNS (Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita),” police further said.
KIAL Airport police station officials further said that the accused is alleged to have touched the woman’s private parts and forcibly hugged her under the pretext of inspection, even after she opposed strongly. He later let her go, saying, “Okay, thank you,” and walked away.
Sexual harassment of women, both local and international, is rampant in India. A few days ago, an American woman wrote on X of being repeatedly asked for selfies from the moment she landed in Delhi, beginning at the airport baggage carousel. She said she declined requests from men, but sometimes agreed to pictures with women and children, using what she described as her “judgment”.
However, things turned ugly in a Delhi metro, when a teenage boy of about 14 or 15 years old approached her for a photograph while accompanied by his mother and sister.
The woman alleged that after initially placing an arm on her shoulder, the boy groped her breasts and slapped her buttocks, then laughed as if it were a joke. She said she reacted by grabbing him by the collar and pushing him away, after which his mother accused her of “overreacting”. The woman stated in her post that she does not plan on returning to India again.
“I’m going to give all of South Asia a pass,” she wrote in her post.
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