Harbhajan Singh slams Jet Airways pilot for racist remarks, physical assault

Mumbai: Harbhajan Singh on Wednesday lost his cool and lashed out at Jet Airways pilot for racial discrimination against a fellow Indian passenger on the flight

The off-spinner, who is currently playing for the Indian Premier League side Mumbai Indians, took to Twitter to say that the pilot named Bernd Hoesslin “physically assaulted a lady and abused a physically challenged man”.

In a series of tweets, the senior Indian bowler termed the entire incident “disgraceful” and demanded a strict action against the person concerned.

Jet Airways issued a media release, saying: “Jet Airways has zero tolerance towards any action of its employees that contravenes local or international laws prevalent in the countries of its operations. Additionally, we have a strict employee code of conduct, which is based on the values and ethos of the airline."

"This is clearly mentioned in the prescribed service conditions for employees and is adequately emphasized during internal training sessions. All airline employees/staff members are required to comply with company’s rules and regulations and with the customs and security laws of the countries that Jet Airways’ flies to. Corrective action will be taken as per company policy, and after due investigation," added the airline.

"As regards the said incident, Jet Airways has noted guest feedback with concern and regrets the incident. The airline has as per policy initiated a full-fledged investigations, based on specific inputs from guests, concerned departments and agencies. The above is without prejudice to all our rights in this regard,” concluded Jet Airways.