Women commissions take cognisance of Zaira Wasim's matter

The National Commission for Women (NCW) on Sunday condemned the alleged on board harassment of Bollywood actress Zaira Wasim and took suo moto cognisance of the matter.

Speaking to ANI, the acting chairperson of NCW, Rekha Sharma, said, "Air Vistara hasn't sensitised their crew to take action against men torturing women on flight. I am taking suo moto cognisance of this and giving a notice to Air Vistara."

"I would like to ask Air Vistara if they have zero tolerance towards such behaviour, why they have not named this person till now. Naming them is very important. We would like to tell Zaira that we are there to help her out in any way we can," she added.

She also said, "I just saw the video on Instagram and my heart goes out to her. I am really horrified the way this incident happened and after that the crew didn't help this girl. That was very shocking."

Swati Maliwal, the chairperson of the Delhi Commission for Women (DCW), also condemned the incident.

"The flight was from Delhi to Mumbai, this is subjected to our jurisdiction. We have even issued a notice to Air Vistara and asked for details of that man," said Maliwal.

The incident came to light when Zaira shared the ordeal she had to go through en route Mumbai in the flight in an Instagram story.

Zaira said she had called out to the cabin crew for help but it was of no use.

In the video, she can be seen fighting her tears and saying, "This is not done, I am disturbed. Is this how you're going to take care of girls?"

The Ministry of Civil Aviation and the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) have also sought details from Air Vistara over the incident.

Taking note of the incident, the airline have ordered a detailed investigation into the incident.

In a statement, the airline also apologised, adding Zaira started yelling at the accused passenger only during the descent of the flight, due to which the cabin crew couldn't move because it's mandatory to have no movement during the final phase of the flight as seat belts are on.