Jabalpur, June 26 (IANS) A controversy erupted on Friday after Congress leader and Rajya Sabha MP Vivek Tankha alleged that a senior Supreme Court advocate was assaulted and threatened by a fellow passenger aboard an IndiGo flight before landing in Jabalpur.

Tankha also questioned the conduct of the Jabalpur police, alleging that instead of taking action against the accused, the victim and a three-year-old child were made to remain at the Khamaria police station for nearly four hours.

In a series of posts on social media platform X, Tankha claimed that the incident occurred while passengers were disembarking from the aircraft.

According to him, the senior advocate, whose identity has not been disclosed, was carrying a three-year-old child in his lap when he was allegedly manhandled by another passenger.

Describing the episode as shocking, Tankha alleged that despite the incident taking place in full public view, the alleged attacker was neither detained at the airport nor prevented from leaving the premises.

“The question is, when a decent passenger with a child was brutally assaulted by a hooligan while disembarking, why wasn’t that person detained? Sir, this is no policing. Then why are there police at the airport, only to check bona fide passengers?” Tankha wrote while tagging the Director General of Police, Madhya Pradesh.

The Congress MP further alleged that instead of initiating action against the accused, the police kept the senior advocate and the child at Khamaria police station for around four hours.

Tagging IndiGo and the Madhya Pradesh Police, Tankha described the alleged treatment meted out to the advocate as “shameful” and criticised what he termed the government’s attitude towards visitors and passengers.

In another post, Tankha questioned how the alleged assailant was allowed to leave both the aircraft and the airport despite allegedly assaulting a passenger carrying a young child.

“Why was the ‘goon’ allowed to leave the aircraft and the airport in Jabalpur today, despite manhandling a gentleman passenger with a three-year-old child in full view? Is the airport police merely checking bona fide travellers? Goons allowed to walk past,” he wrote.

Tankha’s allegations have raised questions over the handling of the incident by airport security and the local police.

However, neither the Jabalpur police nor IndiGo had issued an official statement on the allegations till the filing of this report.

The identity of the senior Supreme Court advocate allegedly assaulted has also not been disclosed, so far.

–IANS

pd/dan