An Indian-origin Singaporean woman Gayathiri Bose was asked to prove that she was lactating by the German police at the Frankfurt Airport. The 33-year-old had her breast pump in her cabin bag that went through the X- Ray scanning. The German police then asked her to squeeze her breasts to prove that she is lactating. She said it was ‘humiliating’ and ‘traumatizing’ for her. She said that they grew suspicious because she was carrying a breast pump with no baby in sight.
Gayathiri was taken to a private room to a female officer, who then asked her to show her breasts.
According to reports, Gayathiri said, “She asked me to open up my blouse and show her my breast. She then asked how come I didn’t have anything attached to my breast, if I was lactating and expressing breast milk.”
“And I said, there is no such thing that is permanently attached, we usually place the pump to our nipple and the machine does the job. She wanted me to show her by hand-expressing a little,” she added.
What did the airport authorities say about this?
The authorities have however refused to comment on the alleged incident saying it was never a part of their routine procedure. In addition to her already traumatized state, Gayathiri said, “When they finally cleared me off the matter, I told them that this is not the way to treat someone. I said ‘Do you know what you just did to me, you made me show my breast.” She further added, “The officer just said, ‘Okay it is over now, please go’ and she was totally nonchalant. She didn’t seem very remorseful or empathetic.”
While departing further from the horrifying situation, Gayathiri noted the name of the female Police Officer. She has also decided to take a legal action against the authorities.”While I do respect the need to do security checks on items that may seem suspicious, to outrage a person’s modesty is definitely crossing the line,” she concluded.
The mother of a 3-year-old kind and a seven month old baby is a manager at a transport company and was taking a flight to Paris. Many incidents of similar humiliating experiences have been reported in the recent months at the airports across the world. Looks like the fight is long and the battle is not half won yet!