Paralympian Aditya Mehta Asked to Remove His Prosthetic Leg at Bengaluru Airport

This content has been archived. It may no longer be relevant

Seems like Indo-Pak tension and the fear of attacks has severed the airport security. But to an extent where a physically disabled person was forced to remove the prosthetic limb and then made to strip and being mocked as well, is an extreme case.

This is what exactly was faced by twice silver medal winner at Asian Paralympics, Aditya Mehta at Kempegowda International Airport, Bengaluru on October 10, 2016.

Moreover, this is not the first time with him when CISF officers strip-searched him. Prior to this, he faced similar humiliation twice at Bengaluru and Delhi airports.

The cyclist Paralympian took refuge in the Facebook post to vent out his anger.

He, in highly sarcastic tone, called the removal of the prosthetic leg as “possibly an generous Dusshera gift” (sic). As he mentioned that the entire procedure is extremely painful and he even bled as well.

However, the officials still said that “It’s your problem!”, as he said in his post.

The “psychological scar” the entire incident of removing the above-the-knee prosthetic, stripping off and at last being laughed at by the CISF officers and onlookers, is extremely deep.

This is not the sole case that Social Chumbak has ever reported. This year only a lady, Jeeja Ghosh, with cerebral palsy was off landed by SpiceJet. But these are just a few people who did raise their voice or became headlines.

However, there must be innumerable cases which go unreported. They also must be facing the similar issues and battling with social stigma. Mocking at them or considering them unfit for any job, simply belittles our stance. We, who are blessed with a healthy body, are deprived of a healthy mind. We simply can never understand what difficulty a person with disability is going through.

Moreover, we add fuel to it by giving psychological pain to them or considering them deprived. It is not they who are devoid of something, but we. We are simply devoid of humanity and a humane heart.

A full body scanner at the airport, pavements, especially designed for them and even the presence of the humane attendants at airports will simply give ample facilities to them.

But more than anything the respect for their courage will boost them. To demean the commendable fight that they are putting against the odds speaks a lot about one own self.