The lawyer of a Swedish man arrested for allegedly sexually assaulting a member of the cabin crew on a Bangkok to Mumbai flight claims he has psychological health issues and didn’t mean to the touch the girl.
Klas Erik Harald Jonas Westberg reportedly molested a stewardess on IndiGo flight 6E-1052 from Thailand to India on Thursday, the Indian Express reported. He was arrested by Mumbai Police once the aeroplane touched down and passengers disembarked.
The Swedish man grew to become unruly because the cabin crew began distributing the meals.
The victim told the press the 63 year previous gave the impression to be intoxicated. She said…
“The drawback started once I knowledgeable Westberg, who was drunk, that there was no seafood onboard. I served him hen meals and requested for his ATM card to make a fee through the POS (point of sale) machine. On the pretext of swiping the cardboard, the passenger held my hand. I pulled it again and asked him to enter the cardboard PIN.”
It was at this stage, the alleged touchy–feely Swedish man reportedly groped the 24 yr old cabin crew member, which was witnessed by three of her colleagues.
The victim protested and the flight captain then grew to become involved, issuing the passenger a red warning card for being unruly.
Upon landing at Chhatrapati Shivaji International Airport, police have been known as and a case was registered on the grievance of the cabin crew staffer.
Subsequently, Westberg was arrested and reportedly stored hurling expletives throughout his journey, prompting the cabin crew to declare him an unruly passenger.
Westberg then allegedly assaulted another passenger who confronted him.
Westberg’s lawyer, Prabhakar Tripathi, claimed that his consumer has mental health issues and was not in charge of his actions. Tripathi said…
“He cannot maintain something without help. He tried to hold the POS fee card machine when he touched the cabin crew. He did not touch her deliberately.”
The Swedish man’s case is the latest in a string of incidents involving unruly passengers on flights to and from India. In November 2022, an Indian man named Shankar Mishra was banned from Air India for four months after urinating on his co-passenger during a flight.
In January 2023, a 21-year-old Indian pupil named Arya Vohra was banned from American Airlines after he urinated on his co-passenger during a flight from New York to Delhi.
The International Air Transport Association (IATA) has referred to as for stricter measures to take care of unruly passengers, including criminal prosecution and compensation for airways. Expert reported a 50% increase in unruly passenger incidents in 2022, with alcohol being a big consider many of those instances..