"Not Fit To Fly, Go Stitch Shoes": IndiGo Pilot Alleges Casteism At Work

Alleging casteist insults at work, a trainee pilot with IndiGo has accused three senior officials of telling him that he was "not fit to fly a plane" and "must stitch shoes" instead. The 35-year-old, who belongs to a Scheduled Caste, has filed a police complaint. An FIR has been registered against IndiGo officials Tapas Dey, Manish Sahni and Captain Rahul Patil under the SC/ST (Prevention of Atrocities) Act. IndiGo has termed the allegations "baseless". 

The complainant first approached the police in Bengaluru. The cops there registered a zero FIR -- an FIR that can be filed in any police station irrespective of where the crime took place. This FIR has now been sent to Gurugram, where IndiGo is headquartered.

IndiGo has trashed the allegations. "IndiGo upholds a zero-tolerance policy towards any form of discrimination, harassment, or bias and remains firmly committed to being an inclusive and respectful workplace. IndiGo strongly refutes these baseless claims and stands by its values of fairness, integrity, and accountability and will extend its support to the law enforcement agencies as required," a spokesperson for the airline said. 

In his complaint, the trainee pilot referred to a meeting on April 28 at Indigo's Gurugram office. He alleged that during the 30-minute meeting, he was told, "You are not fit to fly an aircraft, go back and stitch slippers. You are not even worthy of being a watchman here."

The trainee pilot has said the harassment was aimed at forcing him to resign. He has said the derogatory remarks were aimed at degrading his identity as a Scheduled Caste person.

He has also alleged that he had suffered "professional victimisation" through unjustified salary cuts, forced retraining sessions and unwarranted warning letters. He said he had raised the matter with higher officials and IndiGo's ethics panel, but no action followed. Eventually, he was forced to file a police complaint, he has said.