Drunk Indian-Origin Woman Jailed for Causing Panic on Flight to UK

A drunk Indian-origin woman has been jailed for causing panic on a flight to the UK.

Image used for representational purpose only.

(Photo Courtesy: AP/Jukin media screengrab)

An Indian-origin woman has been jailed for six months in the UK for drunken behaviour on an aeroplane, which, among other things, caused a passenger to have a seizure.

Kiran Jagdev, an executive assistant based in the city of Leicester, had attempted to blame the crew of Jet2 airline, for supplying her with alcohol during her flight from Tenerife in Spain back to the UK in January this year.

Judge Philip Head “rejected” her excuse and decided to impose what he described as a “deterrent sentence” during a hearing at Leicester Crown Court this week.

The court was told that during a bumpy landing, the 41-year-old had started screaming “we are all going to die”, causing further distress to passengers.

"The effect you had on other passengers must have been dreadful," the judge said.

“As the pilot was unable to put the craft down on the approach, that triggered a further foul-mouthed tirade where you shouted ‘we’re all going to die’ for about 10 minutes.”

Judge Philip Head

According to the prosecutors, Jagdev had consumed about six to eight beers even before boarding the four-hour flight to East Midlands Airport. She then proceeded to drink a further four to six glasses of wine on the plane, using her own supply from her handbag when the crew refused her more drinks.

“She continued to ask cabin crew for a drink and they continued to refuse her and she was issued with an Air Navigation Order.”

Joey Kwong, Prosecutor

After she was moved for kicking seats, causing a passenger to have a seizure, an off-duty police officer on the same flight offered to sit next to her to assist cabin crew but she began making "vulgar" comments to him.

She was arrested by the police on landing and proceeded to direct abusive remarks at airport immigration authorities.

The air rage incident came days after Jagdev was convicted of assault in Tenerife and handed down a suspended sentence, which involves a deferred jail term reliant on good behaviour.

"There isn't any excuse. We can't put the blame on anyone other than herself and she accepts that," her defence lawyer Harbinder Lally told the court. The judge concluded, "You are the author of your own and other people's misfortune.”

"This demands a deterrent sentence so people who travel by air and get drunk will know there are consequences."

(Published in an arrangement with Press Trust of India)