Rosy Sequeira, TNN Mar 7, 2013, 07.03AM IST
MUMBAI: Two cabin crew members of Air India have moved the Bombay high court seeking compensation from the cyber police who impounded their passports and retained them for over five months without any order from the court.
The two were booked by the cyber cell police station, Bandra-Kurla Complex, for posting "lascivious and defamatory'' material on social networking sites Facebook and Orkut. KVJ Rao (51) and Mayank Sharma (32) , who are also office-bearers of Air India Cabin Crew Association, have sought compensation for losses in earning and also for mental harassment. They have also urged for an inquiry and disciplinary action against investigating officer Sunil Ghoshalkar, police inspector Dinkar Shilvate, senior inspector N K More, ACP Sanjay Jadhav and DCP Anand Mandya.
On May 11, 2012, Rao and Sharma were picked up on a complaint by an ex-union office-bearer Sagar Karnik alleging that they had posted blogs criticizing politicians, the PMO, Supreme Court and insulted the national flag. They were released on bail by the sessions court on May 22, 2012, after the court observed that the police-to get their first remand-had invoked a non-bailable section even though all charges were bailable. After Rao and Sharma moved HC for their passports, the police handed it to them on October 25, 2012. They were able to attend duty from December 2012 onwards.
Their petition said despite informing Ghoshalkar and other officers that they need the passports to go on flight duty, it was refused, saying they should obtain it from the court. The duo said they suffered heavy financial loss as they could not earn their flying allowances which forms a major part of their monthly salary for flying international routes. For a total seven months of being unable to fly, Rao has claimed a loss of around Rs 14.26 lakh, while Sharma has claimed Rs 5.50 lakh.