New Delhi: A trainee pilot from GoAir, who had been fired by the airline because he had allegedly posted an objectionable tweet about Sita and Hinduism, says he was wrongfully terminated since the offensive tweet was posted by another person with the same name.
On June 2 and 3, a person named Asif Khan with the Twitter handle @MohdAsif35534489 posted objectionable comments about Sita and Hinduism. This Asif Khan described himself on his profile as a GoAir cabin crew member and the airline was lambasted on social media with the hashtag #BoycottGoAir. In response to the trolling, GoAir tweeted a statement that announced the immediate termination of the employment contract of a trainee pilot named Asif Khan.
However, Asif Khan, the trainee pilot in question, points out that the account from which the offensive comment was tweeted has been suspended, while his profile is still available, thus proving that it was not him who tweeted the comment in question.
Mistaken identity?
“The profile of @MohdAsif35534489 said he was a member of GoAir’s cabin crew, which led to a misunderstanding and action was taken against me,” said Khan. He claimed that the company fired him without hearing his case or investigating the matter.
According to Khan, his Twitter account has his photo and the description clearly says that he is a pilot. In a post shared on Facebook, he told his side of the story and alleged that he has been receiving threats on social media ever since the controversy erupted. His mother and sister have also been receiving rape threats.
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Khan wrote on Facebook: “My name is Asif Iqbal Khan resident of Mumbai and employee of GoAir working as a Trainee First Officer. I struggled really hard to get this job. Believe it or not but I struggled 6 Yrs to get this respected job in a respected airline and got this job in December last year 2019. My first Dream Job. But suddenly everything came crashing down yesterday with a call.”[sic]
Khan claimed he was informed about his dismissal by some of the company’s senior officers over the phone. He wrote: “On June 4, 2020, at around 3 pm I got a couple of call by my senior captains from GoAir enquiring about my Twitter account. I thought that something is amiss so I searched on twitter and found that Boycottgoair is trending because some person with same name as mine and his profile stating that he works as cabin crew with go air had abused Hindu Gods. But looking at his picture one can clearly see it’s someone different and not me.” [sic]
Khan said this case of mistaken identity has led to abusive trolling and death threats on social media, while his mother and sister have been threatened with rape. Khan further said that it was not limited to Twitter alone as videos were being posted on Youtube as well.
‘I have been framed’
“My brother got a YouTube link sent by his friend who works at go air as cabin crew asking if he knows the person in the video and she asked him because she saw that video and saw my brother as my mutual friend on Facebook. I then realised how huge this matter is.” [sic]
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Khan continued: “In the YouTube video which was put by a channel named ‘Buzzing Trends Official’ the person tried to blame me for this disgusting act and to prove his point he stole photos of mine from my Facebook account and had put it in his video, but that didn’t prove anything as he had also put the profile of the fake twitter account, the impostor and on comparing the face and both the accounts again it clearly showed that it’s different person and not me.” [sic]
He added: “Me and my family pointed this out in the comment section of that video and after realising his mistake the channel owner took the video down.” [sic]
Still posting on Facebook, Khan said: “I immediately went to my local police station to lodge a formal complaint about this matter. Also I have sent a formal complaint to the cyber cell as well. I have no criminal record and I have never done such thing ever and never intend to do such thing in the future. I respect all religion. People who know me can vouch for it. The comments made by the impostor is his views and not mine or my company GoAir.” [sic]
The young pilot hopes that the matter will be investigated fairly. “…this whole matter has put a huge stress on me and my family especially my dad who is very ill at this moment. I trust our Judicial System and I trust my company GoAir to deal with this matter swiftly and sensitively. I am willing to co-operate by whatever means possible in this investigation to help nab the culprit.” [sic]
Employer’s response
Speaking to The Wire, Asif Khan said, “Ever since the call, I have been visiting my local police station. I hope my case is heard. I narrated my side of the story in a statement released on Facebook.”
He told this reporter: “My Twitter handle is @faroutasif. I told my seniors that the last time I tweeted from it was in 2019. Then I saw on Twitter that it [the controversial tweet] was [posted] another person called Asif Khan. But the name and profile photo on his Twitter handle were different and he mentioned cabin crew as his description, while I am a pilot.”
“I have lost my job for no fault of mine. I am registering an FIR in the matter. I fear that proving my innocence in the matter might take a long time,” said Khan.
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Khan’s fears are not completely baseless. Although he managed to get one video removed from YouTube, several media channels have already reported the story without investigating the matter.
Asif Chaudhary, an HR official at GoAir for comments, confirmed the termination of Asif Khan’s employment contract and told The Wire that the company would share details about any future course of action.
Other officials of the airline have yet to respond to The Wire’s list of questions. This story will be updated when a response is received.
Translated from the Hindi original by Naushin Rehman
