I was only doing my job: SpiceJet employee thrashed by Army officer

Mudasir Ahmad Khan, the SpiceJet employee who has been bedridden due to alleged assault by an Army officer at Srinagar airport last month, said he was targeted for doing his work honestly.

He demanded stern action against the assailant to prevent recurrence of such incidents.

Four employees of the airline were assaulted by Lieutenant Colonel RK Singh on July 26 after Khan had asked the Army officer to pay charges for carrying extra cabin baggage according to the norms set by SpiceJet.

“I saw this man was carrying two cabin bags and asked him to stand aside so that they could be weighed. Against an allowance of 7 kilograms per piece of cabin baggage, this man was carrying two which weighed 16 kg,” Khan said at his home in Srinagar where he has been bound to his bed after he suffered a spinal fracture caused by the assault.

Khan said he asked the Army officer to pay for extra baggage but he became irate and misbehaved with him and other colleagues before turning violent. “He hit me with the bag, he punched me and slapped me till blood started oozing from my mouth and nose. Then I fell unconscious. Later I saw in the videos that he was not allowing anyone to even pick me up. He even assaulted four employees,” the injured man said.

Khan said he only stopped Lieutenant Colonel Singh as a part of his duty. “Had I been wrong, then it would have been a different story. The airline ticket has clearly mentioned the baggage allowance for each passenger. However, this gentleman claimed that he does not know about it. I was only doing my job honestly,” he added.

He demanded that the erring Army officer be punished for his violent acts and said, “What happened to me can happen to someone else as well. So he should definitely be punished for it.”

Police have registered a case against Singh for allegedly assaulting and injuring four employees of a private airline at the Srinagar International Airport last week.

Lt Col Singh has filed a counter-complaint with the police alleging assault, following which an FIR has also been registered against the airline staffers.

Army officials said the issue has come to their notice and “are awaiting the conclusion of the pending investigation”.