SRINAGAR: Mudasir Ahmad Khan, the SpiceJet employee who suffered a spinal fracture after an alleged assault by an Army officer at the Srinagar International Airport last month, has said he was simply doing his duty and had not acted improperly when he was attacked.
Khan, currently bedridden, said he had stopped the Army officer, Lieutenant Colonel RK Singh, at the boarding gate on July 26 after noticing he was carrying cabin baggage over the permissible weight. “I was only doing my job honestly. The airline clearly states that one cabin bag of up to 7 kg is allowed. He was carrying two bags weighing 16 kg,” Khan said from his home in Srinagar.
“I asked him politely to step aside so the baggage could be weighed. When I told him he had to pay the charges for excess baggage, he became irate and violent,” Khan recalled. “Had I done something wrong, it would have been a different matter. But I was only following protocol.”
Khan said he was struck with the baggage, slapped, punched and kicked until he lost consciousness. “Later, I saw in the videos that he was even stopping people from helping me,” he said.
The incident has drawn public attention amid concerns over the safety of airline ground staff. Police have registered a case against Lt Col Singh for allegedly assaulting four airline employees. The officer has also filed a counter-complaint against the staff. The Indian Army has said it is cooperating fully with the investigation and reiterated its commitment to discipline.
Khan has demanded stern action, saying, “What happened to me could happen to any staff member just doing their job. There has to be accountability.”
