Man accused of molesting teen Bollywood actress on flight gets bail

MUMBAI: A Mumbai court on Wednesday granted bail to the accused who was arrested in connection with the alleged molestation of a teen bollywood actress on board.

The bail has been granted on a surety of Rs 25,000.

The molestation case on December 10 stirred a storm after the actress alleged that she was molested by a co-passenger on board a Delhi-Mumbai flight.

In a live video, the actor had narrated her ordeal on Instagram.

Acting on the complaint, the Ministry of Civil Aviation and Directorate General of Civil Aviation had sought details from Vistara over the incident.

Accusing the airline of not coming to her help, the National Commission for Women had called the incident shocking. "Vistara hasn't sensitised their crew to take action against men torturing women on flight. I am taking suo moto cognizance of this and giving notice to Vistara. Also, a copy to DGP Maharashtra to act against Vistara Airlines,"  NCW Chairperson Rekha Sharma said.

Lashing out at the airline, she had asked: "if they have zero tolerance why they have not named this person till now. Naming them is very very important. We would like to tell her that we are there to help her out in any way we can," Sharma added.

"I just saw the video on Instagram. My heart goes out to her. I am really horrified the way this incident happened and after that the crew didn't help this girl. That was very shocking because Vistara claims that it has zero tolerance," Sharma said.

Responding to the allegations, Vistara had assured that they are carrying out a detailed investigation. They had claimed that they have "zero tolerance" for such behaviour.

"We are talking to our crew who were serving her to understand the incident at greater length, and reaching out to fellow passengers as well," Vistara said in a statement.

The incident came to light when the 17-year-old actress shared the ordeal she had to go through en route Mumbai in the flight in an Instagram story. Reportedly, the man was caressing her neck while she was asleep. She claimed that she tried to record what the man was doing, but failed due to dim lights.