GoAir revokes termination of Muslim trainee pilot after announcing sacking of wrong employee without investigation
Private airline company GoAir has reinstated its Muslim trainee pilot Asif Khan days after announcing his instant dismissal following an unprecedented uproar by the right-wing brigade on Twitter. The decision to revoke Asif Khan’s dismissal by GoAir came on Sunday after the former filed a complaint with the cyber cell of the Mumbai Police alleging that someone had impersonated him to post anti-Hindu comments on Twitter.
Last week, several members of the Hindutva brigade had taken to Twitter to share screenshots of one user’s tweets abusing Hindu Gods. The man in question was Asif Khan, who claimed to be employed with GoAir. Faced with unprecedented protests and hashtag #BoyCottGoAir trending on Twitter, the aviation company had announced the sacking its trainee pilot Asif Khan without carrying out any investigation.
— GoAir (@goairlinesindia) June 4, 2020
The decision by GoAir left many puzzled particularly the employee in question, who took to Facebook to share his ordeal alleging a case of mistaken identity. The real Asif Khan alleged that an imposter had posted objectionable tweets, resulting in his dismissal from the job.
Asif wrote that the controversy had caused considerable grief to him and his family, adding that he’s been ‘getting death threats, abusive hate messages, my mother and sister threatened with rape, all because of mistaken identity and because a guy with the same name as mine had abused Holy Hindu Gods.’
Asif said that an imposter had created Twitter and YouTube accounts in his name. Both have now been taken down following the controversy.
Asif said that he had filed a case with the Saki Naka Police Station in Mumbai and the cyber cell of the Mumbai Police had launched an investigation.
Asif’s employer, GoAir, on Sunday changed its mind and decided to reinstate him. The company said that Asif will remain suspended until the cyber cell of the Mumbai Police completed its investigation.
Gloss