A New Jersey woman has filed a lawsuit against American Airlines, alleging that the carrier failed to prevent or stop a sexual assault she experienced at the hands of a stranger seated next to her on a flight. According to the Independent, the incident occurred on August 26, 2022, during a nighttime flight from Charlotte, North Carolina, to Newark Liberty International Airport. The woman, who wishes to remain anonymous, claims that American Airlines bears responsibility for not ensuring her safety and well-being on board.

According to the lawsuit, shortly after takeoff, the woman fell asleep, only to awaken to a horrific discovery. She found the stranger’s arm inside her pants and his hand forcing hers onto his p***s. The man had covered them both with his black puffer jacket, “digitally penetrating” her while she slept. The woman was left paralysed in shock and panic upon waking.

The stranger then climbed on top of her, ”attempting to penetrate her with his p***s, which he was partially able to do,” according to the lawsuit. The woman mustered the strength to push him away, and he promptly returned to his seat, ending the assault.

Later, the attacker attempted to downplay the assault by offering the victim water while forcibly holding her hand, only stopping when he noticed a flight attendant approaching. The victim then woke her friend and reported the incident to a flight attendant, who relocated her to a different seat for the remainder of the flight.

Upon landing, the perpetrator was escorted off the plane, and authorities collected statements from the victim and witnesses. But it is ”unknown whether the Perpetrator was taken into custody and/or ever charged with the sexual assault of Plaintiff,” the lawsuit claimed.

”As alleged in the complaint, we look forward to seeking justice on behalf of our client to remedy this terrible injustice for all that she has suffered,” the woman’s attorney, Brian Andris, told The Independent.

In an email, an American Airlines spokesperson said, “We are reviewing the lawsuit and the details of the flight. The safety and comfort of our customers is a top priority for Americans.”

The lawsuit alleged that the airline industry has been aware of the alarming increase in in-flight sexual assaults, with the FBI reporting 96 related cases in the previous year alone. The suit further emphasised that the victim bore no responsibility for the assault and that American Airlines had a clear duty to ensure her safety during the flight. 

”American Airlines breached its duty of care by failing to properly monitor the cabin, failing to prevent the sexual assault, and failing to promptly intervene when the assault occurred,” the lawsuit claims.

Mumbai:

Following the incident of sexual abuse at a school in Badlapur, the Maharashtra government on Wednesday issued a directive to all the schools in the state to install CCTV cameras on their premises within a month.

The failure to comply with the order may result in severe consequences such as revocation of the permission to operate, said the order issued by School Education Minister Deepak Kesarkar.

Protests have broken out in many parts of the state following the alleged sexual abuse of two kindergarten girls at a school in Badlapur near Mumbai. A school attendant was arrested in the case.

“All private schools in the state are required to comply with new guidelines from the department, mandating the installation of CCTV cameras at appropriate locations within school premises. Failure to comply may result in actions such as withholding financial grants or revocation of the school’s operating permit,” the order said.

Installation of a comprehensive CCTV camera network is a proactive measure to enhance the safety and security of students, teachers and staff, it said.

The school education department has also permitted the use of five per cent of the funds allocated for schools in the District Planning and Development Council to establish CCTV camera networks in state-run and aided schools.

Further, the CCTV footage should be examined at least three times a week, and it would be the principal’s responsibility to contact police if any concerning incident is captured by the cameras, the order said.

The department also instructed school managements to conduct thorough background checks of all employees with the assistance of the local police station. Schools should provide the local police station the details and photographs of their employees, it added.

All schools must also provide complaint boxes, the order said.

The government has set up a state-level school students safety committee, to be headed by the school education commissioner. There will be six other members, while the assistant director (administration) under the education commissioner will be the member secretary.

This committee will meet once every three months to review various measures taken to enhance the safety of students, and submit reports to the state government periodically.

Elsewhere, cabinet minister Mangal Prabhat Lodha who is also the guardian minister for Mumbai suburban district wrote a letter to the district collector, requesting deployment of female staff at the girls’ washroom in all schools.

“The entire school premises, except for washrooms, should be brought under the surveillance of CCTV cameras….their safety and proper functioning should be regularly checked by beat marshals or patrolling police teams,” Lodha said.

A woman staff member should monitor the area outside the girls washroom and only women sanitation workers should be deployed to clean them, the minister wrote. The sanitation staff must undergo police verification, he said.

It should be mandatory to have a woman staff member present in buses, taxis and vans used for student transportation, the letter further said.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)

Montreal, Canada:

Canadian writer Alice Munro’s daughter said Sunday that her stepfather sexually abused her as a child and that her mother was told but stayed with him, in a damning account published after the Nobel laureate’s death.

Andrea Robin Skinner wrote in the Toronto Star that she was nine when, in 1976, “one night, while she (Munro) was away, her husband, my stepfather, Gerald Fremlin, climbed into the bed where I was sleeping and sexually assaulted me.”

She wrote that when she was alone with Fremlin — who died in 2013 — he “exposed himself during car rides, told me about the little girls in the neighborhood he liked, and described my mother’s sexual needs.”

Skinner said that, when she was 25, she shared everything that had happened with Munro — but acclaimed author decided to stay with Fremlin, whom she wed in the 1970s after her first marriage ended.

“She reacted exactly as I had feared she would, as if she had learned of an infidelity,” Skinner wrote of Munro. 

“We all went back to acting as if nothing had happened. It was what we did,” she added.

At 38, Skinner said she took her allegations to the police after Munro complimented her husband in a New York Times interview. Fremlin pleaded guilty in 2005 to indecent assault.

“What I wanted was some record of the truth, some public proof that I hadn’t deserved what had happened to me,” Skinner wrote.

“I also wanted this story, my story, to become part of the stories people tell about my mother,” she added.

Alice Munro, who won the Nobel Prize in Literature in 2013, died at 92 in May. Her death prompted glowing tributes, including from Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)