Thiruvananthapuram: Cabbie taunts woman pilot, held

Thiruvananthapuram: The Valiyathura police on Saturday arrested Unnikrishnan, 30, who allegedly misbehaved with Suthi Tekade, 30, a female co-pilot, at Trivandrum International Airport on Friday, which was incidentally International Women’s Day. Unnikrishnan, who hails from Balar-amapuram, currently resides at Kalady near Karamana and runs a rent-a-car business.

He was arrested from Kalady on Saturday evening, a few hours after the woman pilot filed a complaint with the Valiyathura police.

He was booked under section 354A of IPC pertaining to sexual harassment by making sexually coloured rem-arks. Suthi Tekade, a New Delhi native, was the co-pilot of an Air India flight that arrived here from New Delhi on Friday night.

According to the complainant, the accused passed by her in his car while she was waiting for her cab at the arrival centre at the international terminal. He slowed down his car near her and passed lewd comments at her before speeding away. She noted down the registration number of the vehicle and passed it on to the police on Saturday afternoon. The Valiyathura police registered a case and sprang to action.

Valiyathura station house officer sub- inspector N. Rajan said that the car, Skoda Laura, belonged to the wife of the accused.

“His eight-year-old son too was in the car when the accused passed the comment. He was taking his son to Shangumugham beach. When he passed Chackai junction, he took a detour and entered the airport. That was when he saw the complainant and committed the offence,” said Rajan.

“Unnikrishnan claimed that he was under the influence of alcohol. But we cannot book him for drunken driving as it is too late for a medical test,” added the SI.

The complainant identified the accused after visiting the Valiyathura police station.