HC asks Etihad Airways to compensate Tk2cr to two passengers for harassment

The High Court (HC) has asked Etihad Airways to pay one crore taka compensation each to two Bangladeshi passengers within 60 days, having been found guilty of harassing them at Abu Dhabi International Airport nine years ago.

The bench of Justice Md Ashraful Kamal and Justice Razik-Al-Jalil passed the order on Thursday, partially disposing of the rule that was issued earlier in this regard.

Lawyer Manjil Morshed moved for the petitioner, while barrister ABM Siddiqur Rahman Khan represented Etihad Airways.

In 2011, Tanzeen Bristy, who has Bangladesh-Canada dual citizenship, filed a writ petition to the High Court seeking its order for one lakh dollar as compensation, and legal action against Etihad Airways for harassment.

According to the writ petition, two women - en route to Canada by an Etihad Airways flight on 28 June 2011 - were allegedly harassed by airline staff at the airport, and were forced back to Dhaka at their own cost over a brawl that sparked due to a fault of its staff. Tanzeen Bristy and her mother served a legal notice to Etihad Airways on 5 July 2011.

Following the writ petition, the High Court, on 14 July 2011, had asked the inquiry committee of the Foreign Ministry to submit the incident probe report in one month after collecting the video footage from Etihad Airways.

On 10 January 2019, the HC issued a rule asking the Etihad Airways authorities to explain why they should not be directed to pay compensation to the victims and why appropriate action should not be taken against them.