Staff Reporter :
In a full text of a verdict the High Court has criticized Etihad Airways for harassing and torturing two Bangladeshi women passengers at the Abu Dhabi International Airport in June 2011.
The court said officials and staff members concerned of Etihad Airways were “unjust”, “rude”, “negligent”, “unprofessional” and “uncourteous towards the passengers and forced them to go back to Dhaka at their own cost.
It was “unreasonable, unfair” “malafide” and “arbitrary” act of Etihad Airways, which is contradictory to the principle of fair and natural justice, and is also illegal and beyond its jurisdiction, the HC also observed in the full text of the verdict released on Wednesday.
The High Court bench of Justice Md Ashraful Kamal and Justice Razik-Al-Jalil delivered the short verdict on October 8 in 2020 after holding hearing a writ petition filed by Tanzeen Bristy, one of the passengers , who were assaulted in the airport.
The court has ordered the authorities concerned of Etihad Airways to pay Tk 20.0 million as compensation to the two women passengers in equal 20 monthly installments. Another passenger was writ petitioner’s mother Nahid Sultana Juthi, a Supreme Court lawyer.
On June 28, 2011, the women, Tanzeen Bristy and Nahid sultana Juthi, enroute to Canada by an Etihad Airways flight, were allegedly harassed by the airline staff at Abu Dhabi International Airport, and were forced back to Dhaka at their own cost over a brawl that sparked due to a fault of a staffer.
Following the same writ petition, the HC on July 14, 2011 issued a rule asking respondents including the authorities of Etihad Airways to explain as to why they should not be directed to pay compensation to the victims and as to why appropriate legal action should not be taken against them for committing the fault.
Later on January 10, 2019 the High Court directed the Etihad Airways to hand over the video footage containing the alleged incident of harassing and torturing the two women to the inquiry committee of Bangladesh foreign ministry in the next 15 days.
The HC also asked the inquiry committee of the foreign ministry to submit the probe report to this court within one month after getting the video footage from the airline, and fixed March 6, 2019 for passing further order on this issue.
Mr Manzill Murshid said that in a compliance report Etihad Airways claimed that they (Etihad Airways) had no fault in the incident; rather the passengers including the writ petitioner were unruly in the occurrence on June 28, 2011.
After completing the hearing on the writ petition, the High Court delivered the verdict on October 8 in 2020 and released the full text on Wednesday.
