CISF apologises to Sudhaa Chandran after she is asked to remove prosthetic limb at airport

By PTI

New Delhi, Oct 22 (PTI) The Central Industrial Security Force Friday apologised to noted dancer and actor Sudhaa Chandran after she said she felt disheartened and humiliated when she was recently asked to remove her artificial limb during the security check at an airport.

“We are extremely sorry for the inconvenience caused to Ms. Sudhaa Chandran. As per protocol, prosthetics are to be removed for security checks only under exceptional circumstances. We will examine why the lady personnel concerned requested Ms. Sudhaa Chandran to remove the prosthetics. We assure Ms. Sudhaa Chandran that all our personnel will be sensitised again on the protocols so that no inconvenience is caused to travelling passengers,” tweeted the CISF, which is tasked to provide a counter-terrorist cover and frisk passengers and their luggage at 64 civil airports of the country.

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Chandran had earlier issued a video statement on a social media platform saying it was very “disheartening and humiliating” for her when she was asked by a lady personnel of the central force to remove her prosthetic limb.

The 56-year-old is an accomplished Bharatnatyam dancer and the incident is stated to have taken place at the Mumbai airport on Thursday.

In her video statement, Chandran has made a “humble appeal” to Prime Minister Narendra Modi to make provision for a certificate or a card that can be easily displayed by specially-abled people at airports and other public places for easy security checks.

Chandran said she had “danced with an artificial limb and created history and made the country very proud”.

“But every time I go on my professional visits, each time I am stopped at the airport and when I request security, to CISF officers that please do an ETD (explosive trace detector) test for my artificial limb they still want me to remove my artificial limb and show it to them,” she said.

Chandran said she stands by all the security protocols set by the CISF but that it is “very disheartening and humiliating at times when I am told to show or remove my artificial limb”.

“Is it humanly possible Modi ji?” Chandran asked.