GoAir fires pilot over hate tweet, employee says case of mistaken identity

Budget airline GoAir has fired a trainee pilot for alleged hate tweets allegedly from an account by his name. However, the employee said that he has been wrongfully terminated, as it was a tweet by another person of the same name.

A Twitter account of Asif Khan with the id '@MdAsif35534489', posted objectionable and hateful comments last week following which there was an uproar on social media.

On June 4, Go Air tweeted: "GoAir has zero tolerance policy and it is mandatory for all GoAir employees to comply with the company's employment rules, regulations and policies, including social media behaviour. The airline does not associate itself with personal views expressed by an individual or an employee. With immediate effect, GoAir is terminating the employment contract of trainee First Officer Asif Khan."

On Friday, Asif Khan, the terminated employee, in a Facebook post claimed innocence and said that the hateful comments were made from the Twitter account of an impostor.

"I have been getting death threats, abusive hate messages, my mother and sister threatened with rape, all because of a mistaken identity and because a guy with same name as mine had abused Holy Hindu God's," he said.

In another Facebook post on Sunday, he said that he has filed an FIR against the person who has used his name and made derogatory comments on the social media platforms.

Before the decision of sacking the trainee first officer, the airline had tweeted that it was trying to verify whether the person 'Asif Khan' is associated with the airline.

Screenshots of the objectionable tweets from the Twitter id "@MdAsif35534489" of the account named "Asif Khan" went viral, seeking action from the airline. The profile of the handle mentioned -- cabin crew at @goairlinesindia.