'Go back, stitch slippers!!' IndiGo pilot faces caste-based insult

New Delhi: A pilot with the IndiGo airline complained that three senior officials insulted him based on his caste. The 35-year-old trainee pilot, who is of Schedule Caste, accused the officials of asking him to stitch shoes instead of flying planes in a complaint he filed with the police. Based on the complaint, police booked IndiGo officials Tapas Dey, Manish Sahni and Captain Rahul Patil under the SC/ST (Prevention of Atrocities) Act.

However, the airlines called the allegations baseless, NDTV reported.

As per the report, the complainant approached the Bengaluru police, who registered a zero FIR. Zero FIR can be filed in any police station, regardless of where the crime took place. Following this, the FIR was sent to Gurugram, where IndiGo has its headquarters.

Rubbishing the allegations by the pilot, a spokesperson for the airline claimed that IndiGo upholds a zero-tolerance policy towards any form of discrimination, harassment, or bias and remains firmly committed to being an inclusive and respectful workplace. The person added that the company strongly refutes these baseless claims stands by its values of fairness, integrity, and accountability and will extend its support to the law enforcement agencies as required.

According to the complaint by the trainee pilot, there was a meeting at the IndiGo headquarters at Gurugram where the accused told him that he was not fit to fly an aircraft and he should go back to stitching slippers. He was also told that he was not even worthy of doing the watchman’s job in the company.

"You are not fit to fly an aircraft, go back and stitch slippers. You are not even worthy of being a watchman here," he was told by the accused.