Fact Check: Viral video of IndiGo airline attendants manhandling an elderly man is not recent incident

A video showing IndiGo airline attendants manhandling an elderly man is viral on social media. The video surfaced online soon after IndiGo Airlines placed a record-breaking order for 500 Airbus A320 family aircrafts.

The video shows the elderly man being held by an IndiGo employee as another is involved in a scuffle with him and pins him to the ground.

The video is being shared with the caption, “INDIGO Flight attendants Misbehaving with an Old man who wanted to board the bus to catch the Flight. They pushed him down and pressed his neck. Share this till these hooligans are taught a lesson and similar incidents are not repeated.”

FACT CHECK:

We performed a reverse image search and found news reports from October 2017 that carried the same visuals, making it clear that the incident was not recent. According to Hindustan Times, the passenger, Rajiv Katyal, was manhandled by the airline staff after a verbal altercation.

Katyal got into an argument with the staffers over an issue and he later allegedly abused them, leading to a brawl.

The airline clarified that its employee Montu Kalra — since suspended by IndiGo — who shot the video and turned a whistleblower in the manhandling case was the one who instigated the incident.

IndiGo airline’s president Aditya Ghosh stated that whatever may have been the provocation, the employee should have exercised restraint. He also apologized saying “I acknowledge the unpleasant experience our passenger went through while engaging with our staff at Delhi airport. My personal apologies as this does not reflect our culture.”

IndiGo alleged that a staff member Juby Thomas was first abused by the passenger and was told to do his job. However, it states that Thomas should have ignored the remark instead of talking back to Katyal. This verbal exchange led to a brawl where Thomas in self-defense tries to distance himself from Mr. Katyal by extending his hand and placing it on Mr. Katyal's collar bone as seen in the video.

However, Ghosh stated that "It is pertinent to note that whatever the provocation be, Juby Thomas was out of line and acted in a manner that is not consistent with what we stand for at IndiGo, even if it had been for self-defense.” (Read more here)

With this, it is clear that the viral video is not a recent incident.