Woman Left in Tears After Being Forced to Remove Prosthetic Leg

by Donald Wood
Last updated: 1:30 PM ET, Fri February 5, 2016

PHOTO: Chhatrapati Shivaji International Airport. (Photo courtesy of Thinkstock)

An Indian woman traveling through Chhatrapati Shivaji International Airport was forced to remove her prosthetic leg during security checks last weekend.

According to the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, Antara Telang was getting ready for her flight to Bangalore, India, and was making her way through security at Chhatrapati Shivaji International Airport in Mumbai when she was stopped.

After reaching the security area at around 5 a.m. local time, security officials informed the woman that she would be required to remove her prosthetic leg in order for it to be examined by an x-ray machine.

Telang's prosthetic extends all the way to her thigh, and removing it involves undressing from the waist down. Security officers informed her that she would not be able to board her flight until the leg was removed and properly screened.

Telang spoke about the incident, saying, "I frequent Delhi and Bangalore airports. I have never been asked to take off my leg there. They use a handheld ETD machine (to detect explosives) as well as doing patdown checks (to detect any hidden items). Similarly, I have visited airports in the capital cities of Paris, Madrid, Budapest, etc. where I was never asked to take it off."

When she asked the security personnel to use the ETD machine, they refused and gave Telang grief. She said, "They not only refused, but challenged me by saying things like, 'Can you tell us the full form of ETD first?' and 'Don't tell us how to do our job.'"

After arguing with the staff, she was led to a private room where she was forced to undress and remove her leg. Officials ran the prosthetic through the scanner, gave it back to the woman and then permitted her to board her flight 45 minutes after the ordeal began.

Telang shared details about the incident on Twitter and how it brought her to tears:

@CSIAMumbai @MumbaiCentral forced to take off jeans, had prosthetic leg passed through a scanner, and brought to tears. Happy journey to me
- Antara Telang (@AntaraT) January 30, 2016

Thanks all for the response yday. No thx to @CSIAMumbai who's still not felt the need to reply as to why they discriminate against disabled
- Antara Telang (@AntaraT) January 31, 2016