I Was Harassed In-Flight Too, Recalls Actor Tannishtha Chatterjee

Actor Tannishtha Chatterjee raised an alarm when she was harassed by a male co-passenger.

Actor Tannishtha Chatterjee is appalled by what a teen actor has gone through recently during a flight. “How can  a  17-year old child be harassed, and that too in the business class when she  was  travelling with her mother? Is no one safe anywhere? Even while the young actor was  subjected to this humiliation, a 5-year old girl in Haryana was raped, murdered and wood inserted in her private parts. Have we  as a civilisation lost all sense of decency? Now children are molesting children! No one is safe. You can be 5 or 85, you are a potential victim of sex crimes, ” laments  Tannishtha who reveals she has gone  through her own on-flight trauma.

“But there is a difference. I am much older, far more experienced woman. No one can misbehave with me and  get away with it. I’d slap the shit out of  the creep. I could handle the lout who misbehaved. This actor being a child was  completely lost in the situation. The fact that the cabin crew did not help her has to do with the passengers’ hierarchy.”

Tannishtha Chatterjee, Actor

“Both the teenager and the alleged molester was travelling business class. This, to the crew, meant both were from a privileged class and  had  to be treated carefully. The presumption that sexual predators come  from the underprivileged class probably works midair also. If this had happened in economy class, the offender would’ve been dealt differently,” says Tannishtha.

Speaking of her experience the Brick Lane and Parched  actor recounts, “Even before the flight took off this man, a co-passenger seated next to me, was acting smart.  I shouted for help. When the aircrew came I told them to find another seat  for  the man or for me . They mumbled that I should  adjust. This is  again, business class hierarchy. I insisted either he  be removed or me.”

Tannishtha feels offender-shaming is very important.  “When something like this happens, speak up immediately, create a scene, post a video on social media. Let the world know what’s happened. I am glad the teen actor has spoken up. I am utterly ashamed of a society that can’t protect its women and children. The actor is from the privileged class and she was travelling business class, then this happened!  I shudder  to think what working girls from the middle class go through every day on buses, trains and auto-rickshaws.”