Frequent fliers may have become accustomed to intense security checks at airports. Baggage screening has extended to footwear, banned products now include toothpaste, and it may not be long before controversial full-body scans are routine.
A letter to the Ministry of External Affairs, however, suggests that invasive security measures used by some airlines can push even the most seasoned travellers beyond endurance.
Scientist S. Chinniah, in the letter dated August 18, alleges that she was subjected to a four-and-half hour “dehumanising” security check by the Israeli airline El Al at the Mumbai airport.
Ms. Chinniah, who lives with her husband and two daughters in Bangalore, travelled on a vacation on June 24 to Tel Aviv to see her friends from Cornell University, where she studied. At the Mumbai airport, she said, she was subjected to a traumatic interrogation, for no apparent reason, and without explanation.
Having arrived several hours early, she was in the security-check line when El Al security led her to a small room at the back of the airport and kept her there for the next four-and-half hours.
Their aggressive questioning included queries on her recent travel to Malaysia and Dubai, including whom she visited there.
To her mortification, she was asked to remove her trousers and shoes.
Ms. Chinniah was concerned that a woman security was not present. She was left with three men, who refused to show her any identification. She said she was not allowed to eat, drink water or go to the toilet.
“No Indian security personnel were present during this process, given that it was conducted on Indian soil. Only Israeli security personnel (all of whom spoke Hebrew) were present when I was taken aside,” she said.
Ms. Chinniah has sent copies of her letter to El Al Airlines, the Israeli Embassy and the United States consulates in Chennai and Mumbai.
Are you the next one!!!
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
0 comments:
Post a Comment