A day after actor-dancer Sudhaa Chandran took to social media to narrate the ordeal she faces at airports due to her prosthetic limb, the Central Industrial Security Force (CISF) has issued an apology to the actor and assured that their personnel will be “sensitized”.
Sudhaa, who had met with an accident early in her life, had her right leg amputated. Later, with a prosthetic limb, she returned to dancing and has also appeared in television serials and films.
On Thursday, in a post on Instagram, in which she also tagged prime minister Narendra Modi, she wrote “I am Sudhaa Chandran, an actress, and dancer by profession who has danced with an artificial limb and created history and made my country proud of me. But every time I go on my professional visits, each time I am stopped at the airport and when I request them at the security, to the CISF officers, that to do an ETD (Explosive Trace Detector) for my artificial limb, they still want me to remove my artificial limb and show it to them,” she said. Further she questioned if it is “humanly possible” and “respect a woman gives another woman”.
Citing how senior citizens get a card, she requested the government to issue a “certificate or chain” to people with prosthetic limbs for easy travelling. “It is disheartening and humiliating when I am told to show my artificial limb or asked to remove it,” she added.
She added that going through this “grill” at the airport each time is “hurting”.
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Reacting to the same video, posted by a news handle, the CISF apologised and wrote, “As per protocol, prosthetics are to be removed for security checks only under exceptional circumstances. We will examine why the lady personnel concerned requested Ms Sudhaa Chandran to remove the prosthetics.” CISF also assured that the actor that of their personnel “sensitised again on the protocols” so that inconvenience is not caused to passengers.