New Delhi: In a shocking incident, a pregnant women was allegedly “strip-searched” at Guhawati airport after a woman CISF staff wanted to verify her pregnancy. The incident took place on the Sunday when woman and her husband were on their way to Delhi after attending the last rituals of her father in Assam.
Shivam Sarmah and his wife Doli Goswami were travelling from Guwahati to Delhi on Sunday by Spicejet flight SG-169. Doli is 25 weeks pregnant with no complexity.
“I requested Spicejet staff for a wheelchair at Guwahati airport which they provided. However, the airline asked multiple questions on pregnancy for about 20 minutes before providing boarding passes. We were carrying the doctor’s prescription slip but left it in check in a bag after airline staff stopped us from carrying too many hand bags,” Mr Sarmah added.
“When we approached the security check, the CISF staff did not hand over the boarding pass and asked my wife to show proof of her pregnancy. I told woman CISF staff Sujata about her pregnancy and even shown her June 12 Delhi to Guwahati flight boarding pass. My wife has lost her father on June 11 night. We did not face any problem in Delhi. But in Guwahati, the CISF staff insisted about proof of pregnancy. Finally, she asked my wife to accompany her to a room and she was forced to undress. The CISF woman officer also pushed her abdomen to check pregnancy manually,” said Mr Sarmah.
“I understand security concern. There was no shortfall since my wife has already passed through metal detector and manual detector like any other,” he added.
“We have taken cognisance of the tweet and enquired into the matter how it came to light that lady sub inspector carried out hand held metal detector. The woman passenger said that she is pregnant and please don’t use HHMG. That lady sub-inspector is a trainee and she got little confused as the couple could not produce any pregnancy documents and that created a misunderstanding. We will look into this matter,” said CISF spokesperson Hemendra Singh.
