Featured

A young trainee pilot nearly lost his job and his family faced death and rape threats over communal tweets from an allegedly fake Twitter handle. On June 4, an unidentified mischief monger impersonated the pilot, Asif Iqbal Khan, and posted abusive and provocative remarks, sparking outrage on social media.

Facing boycott trolls, GoAir first terminated Khan’s contract but changed its stand on Monday, after Khan lodged a police complaint. The airline said it has not terminated the contract and will now wait for a formal police investigation to conclude before taking any further action in the matter. Khan, however, was not available for comment.

On June 6, Khan had approached the Saki Naka police station and lodged an FIR under sections 500 (punishment for defamation), 504 (intentional insult with intent to provoke break of the peace), and 506 (punishment for criminal intimidation) of the Indian Penal Code and section 66 A (punishment for sending offensive messages through communication service etc) of the Information Technology Act.

Police Inspector Mahesh Sangale said, “We will write to Twitter Inc, seeking details of the impersonator’s ID @MdAsif35534489.”

A GoAir spokesperson told Mirror that the probe is likely to take two to three weeks. “Once the report is finalised and is made available to GoAir, the airline will take appropriate steps. GoAir has not issued any termination letter to Asif Khan, given that the matter is now within the purview and subject to a police investigation,” the spokesperson said in an email reply.

The story so far

On June 4, #BoycottGoAir started trending on twitter after a person by the name Asif Khan with dubious id @MdAsif35534489 tweeted derogatory remarks. The twitter profile of the ID said he was employed as cabin crew with GoAir and the outrage was directed at the airline, with demands of action against the employee.

GoAir put out a statement that it was trying to verify if the person Asif Khan was associated with the airline and said it had a “zero tolerance” policy towards any violations of its regulations, including social media behaviour.

A few hours later, the airline posted an update stating, “The airline does not associate itself with personal views expressed by any individual or an employee. With immediate effect, GoAir is terminating the employment contract of Trainee First Officer Asif Khan.”

Next day, Khan posted on his Facebook “It’s been hell for me and my family. I have been getting death threats, abusive hate messages, my mother and sister threatened with rape, all because of a mistaken identity and because a guy with same name as mine had abused... I wish to clear the air and request to stop abusing my family please.”

He said he was home when he received calls from senior GoAir pilots enquiring about certain offensive tweets. When he logged on to Twitter, he spotted the hashtag #BoycottGoAir. Minutes later, his brother received a Youtube link, “Buzzing Trends Official”, which linked his real Facebook account, his photos posted there to @MdAsif35534489.

In his post, Khan said he approached the police and submitted a complaint. “…My only request is to please investigate this matter fairly and swiftly because this whole matter has put a huge stress on me and my family especially my dad who is very ill at this moment,” he said in his post.

He later also posted a copy of his handwritten complaint and his FIR and received a lot of support. In another Facebook post, Khan said “Buzzing Trends Official” channel had also apologised for linking his name with the controversy. He said in the post, “Things that I learnt in these past couple of days are that these cyber crimes can happen to anyone. So please secure all your social accounts properly, especially your private photos.”

Comments are closed.