Disabled woman, 80, made to strip at Assam airport

25 Mar 2022

Kangkan Kalita

GUWAHATI: An 80-year-old Nagaland woman in a wheelchair was allegedly made to pull down her undergarment during security check at Guwahati airport on Thursday after her surgically embedded hip plate caused CISF personnel on duty to suspect something was amiss.

Her daughter, anthropologist Dolly Kikon, later tweeted that the CISF team also harassed the woman’s caretaker when she wanted to lodge a complaint. “It’s disgusting! My 80-year-old disabled mother was forced to pull down her undergarment and get naked. Why?” Kikon wrote.

Airport officials admitted the CISF personnel could have been more sensitive. “Minutes after the incident was reported, airport officials and CISF officers spoke to the lady and the person who was with her. They left for Delhi by a GoAir flight, apparently in a happy mood. The tweet was made before the issue was resolved,” said chief airport officer Utpal Baruah. Later, Kikon said senior officials, including the CISF DIG, had reached out to her.

Airport sources said several instances of gold being smuggled through passengers in wheelchair, including in their rectum, had made CISF personnel extra cautious.

timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/disabled-woman-80-made-to-strip-at-assam-airport/articleshow/90429116.cms

@CISFHQrs

My 80 year old disabled mom was made to strip at the CISFsecurity check at Guwahati airport. The security personnel wanted "proof" of her titanium hip implant and forced her to undress. @himantabiswa @guwahatiplus @GuwahatiAirport

Is that how we treat seniors

— Dolly Kikon (@DollyKikon) March 24, 2022

CISF issues apology after Sudha Chandran shares airport ordeal due to her prosthetic limb

23 Oct 2021 

New Delhi :

After actor and dancer Sudha Chandran shared her ordeal at the airport due to the ‘grilling’ that was conducted because of her prosthetic limb, the Central Industrial Security Force (CISF) has issued an apology on social media. They have promised that they will look into the matter and will “examine why the lady personnel concerned requested Ms. Sudhaa Chandran to remove the prosthetics.”

Responding to Sudha’s complaint where she also tagged Prime Minister Narendra Modi, CISF wrote, “We are extremely sorry for the inconvenience caused to Ms. Sudhaa Chandran. As per protocol, prosthetics are to be removed for security checks only under exceptional circumstances.”

They added, “We will examine why the lady personnel concerned requested Ms. Sudhaa Chandran to remove the prosthetics. We assure Ms.Sudhaa Chandran that all our personnel will be sensitised again on the protocols so that no inconvenience is caused to travelling passengers.”

In an Instagram video shared on Thursday, Sudha Chandran shared that every time she travels for her professional assignments, she is grilled by the security agencies. Despite her request to the airport authorities to conduct an ETD (Explosive Trace Detector) for her artificial limb, they ask her to remove it every time. Sudha Chandran lost her leg in an accident. But she returned to acting and dancing with a prosthetic limb.

The actor also urged PM Modi to issue a card to people with prosthetic limbs just like senior citizens who are issued a card. “Good evening, this is a very personal note that I want to tell to our dear Prime Minister Narendra Modi Ji, this is an appeal to the central government, I am Sudhaa Chandran, an actress and dancer by profession, who has danced with an artificial limb and created history and made my country very proud of me,” she said in her post.

“But every time that I go on my professional visits, each time, am stopped at the airport and when I request them at the security, to the CISF officers that please do an ETD (Explosive Trace Detector) for my artificial limb, they still want me to remove my artificial limb and show it to them. Is this humanly possible, Modi ji? Is this what our country is talking about? Is this the respect that a woman gives to another woman in our society?” she asked.

Sudha Chandran is a popular face on Indian television. She became a household name after playing the role of Ramola Sikand in Kaahin Kissii Roz. She has been a part of Ekta Kapoor’s hit TV show Naagin as well.

indianexpress.com/article/entertainment/television/cisf-issues-apology-after-sudha-chandran-shares-airport-ordeal-due-to-her-prosthetic-limb-7585294/

‘She doesn’t look disabled’: Woman in wheelchair asked to stand up at Delhi airport

10 September 2019

Avantika Chopra

New Delhi : 

Disability rights activist Virali Modi was left feeling distressed when a CISF personnel at the Delhi airport repeatedly asked her to get up from her wheelchair for security check on Monday. Modi, who suffered a spinal injury in 2006 following which she began using wheelchair, was travelling to Mumbai when the incident occurred. Acknowledging the episode, CISF has ordered an inquiry into the matter. 

 Sharing her ordeal on social media, Modi tweeted, “‘You have to stand-up for a security checking. Stop doing drama,’ the CISF at Delhi airport said to me.” Along with the post are screenshots of notes she has written explaining what happened at the airport. The 28-year-old had submitted her wheelchair at the check-in counter and had informed the airport authorities about her disability. After which, she was assigned a porter all the way to her seat. 

However, as Modi reached the security check, she was asked to stand up by the CISF staff. When she repeatedly told them about her disability, she was asked to wait as the security check personnel went to speak to her senior. “She went behind the curtain citing that she would call an official. She then started saying to another woman that I was doing ‘drama’ and being a ‘dramebaaz’,” Modi told the indianexpress.com. 

 “YOU HAVE TO STAND UP FOR SECURITY CHECKING! STOP DOING DRAMA!,” – The CISF at Delhi airport said this to me. @jayantsinha @CISFHQrs @DelhiAirport @debolin_sen @BookLuster @guptasonali PLEASE RT – THIS TREATMENT TOWARDS THE DISABLED IS RIDICULOUS pic.twitter.com/WGYFULblUm — Virali Modi (@Virali01) September 9, 2019 

Miffed at their behaviour, Modi confronted the official. “When I made a scene, she told me she was talking about someone else and not me.” As the issue escalated, another woman took over and did the manual check-in and let Modi proceed, she claims. When asked, what may have triggered such a reaction from the CISF security staff, Modi said, “She told the other staff member that I did not look disabled.” 

The episode, which lasted for around 20-minutes, left the 28-year-old emotionally drained. Though she was contacted by a senior CISF official Delhi, Arun Singh, who “apologised” and “expressed his regret”, Modi thinks it is not enough. “That is not enough. I want a public written apology because a lot of people with disability have come out and shared their experiences with the CISF.” 

CISF spokesperson Hemendra Singh commented on the incident and told indianexpress.com, “Our personnel are properly trained to deal with specially-abled persons. CISF has already introduced measures not to cause any inconvenience to them.” When asked what is being done about the Delhi airport incident, he said that CISF has ordered an inquiry into it. 

This is, however, not the first time this has happened with Modi. Back in November 2018, she went through an unfortunate security check that left her hospitalised. “I was at Bombay airport and the woman at the security, to look underneath, pulled my leg so hard that I injured my knee for that and had to be hospitalised because of this.”

indianexpress.com/article/india/she-doesnt-look-disabled-wheelchair-bound-asked-to-stand-for-security-check-at-delhi-airport-5982594/ 

“YOU HAVE TO STAND UP FOR SECURITY CHECKING! STOP DOING DRAMA!,” - The CISF at Delhi airport said this to me. @jayantsinha @CISFHQrs @DelhiAirport @debolin_sen @BookLuster @guptasonali PLEASE RT - THIS TREATMENT TOWARDS THE DISABLED IS RIDICULOUS pic.twitter.com/WGYFULblUm

— Virali Modi (@Virali01) September 9, 2019