Man arrested for molesting woman on Airasia flight from Guwahati

NEW DELHI: A shop-owner from Rajasthan has been arrested for allegedly molesting a co-passenger on board an Airasia flight from Guwahati to New Delhi on Monday.

The 20-year-old woman had alleged the man touched her inappropriately while she was asleep. He was arrested soon as the flight landed at Delhi’s Indira Gandhi airport.

According a police officer, who did not wish to be named, the woman alleged she first noticed the man trying to approach her when she was reading during her flight. “I was busy reading…this man was seated just behind me with his family…he put his hand on my seat,” the woman’s complaint reads.

The woman told police that initially she thought it was by mistake. She alleged that the man repeated his act 4-5 times before she woke up and called the cabin crew to report the matter. The chief of safety, Airasia India, said a fellow passenger who was witness to the incident brought it to light in defence of the victim. “Timely intervention by fellow passengers and our crew alerting the ground security team resulted in detaining the passenger and filing a case with the airport police assisted by officials from Airasia India,” the officer said.

Deputy commissioner of police (IGI Airport) Sanjay Bhatia said the man was booked for molestation based on the woman’s statement and was arrested, he said. NEWDELHI: To ensure availability of anti-rabies vaccines in Delhi hospitals, the Delhi cabinet on Wednesday approved the procurement of 80,000 vials of the vaccine on a single bid.

The cabinet also ex-post-facto approved the procurement of 40,000 vials from an earlier bid.

“Usually, for purchasing any medicine or item, an open tender is floated and the lowest bidder is selected. However, there was a shortage of rabies vaccine in the market and for the last tender, there had been only one bidder who would have been able to fulfil the order. Purchasing something when there is only one bidder has to go through the cabinet,” said a senior Delhi government official, on condition of anonymity.

Rabies is a viral disease that is almost always fatal once contracted. Vaccination after an animal bite prevents the onset of the disease.

Globally, 55,000 people die of rabies annually; 36% of these deaths are reported from India, according to the World Health Organisation.

The vaccines could not be procured by the Delhi government because of the withdrawal of previous rate contract provided by sellers, poor availability of the vaccine in the open market, and the single bid in open tender, the government said. A meeting was held by the director general of health services, union government, to look at possible solutions. It was decided that it may be procured from public sector undertaking and State Medical Service Corporations.

POLICE SAID THE MAN FROM RAJASTHAN WAS BOOKED BASED ON THE WOMAN’S COMPLAINT. AIRASIA SAID ANOTHER PASSENGER DEFENDED THE VICTIM