$9m lawsuit filed against airline that asked Sikh, Muslims to get off

Shah Anand, along with his Muslim friends, was asked to exit the plane "because of their appearance"

A Sikh man and his Muslim friends were thrown out of an American Airlines flight because their appearance allegedly caused the captain a feeling of uneasiness, a claim of $9 million lawsuit against the airline has claimed.

Shan Anand, a Sikh man, along with his three other friends, was asked to get off the flight last month owing to their race, colour and ethnicity, CNN reported.

The Sikh man was accompanied by Faimul Alam, WH and MK (their initials to protect their privacy) were seated together when a flight attendant approached one of them and asked him to leave the plane, the lawsuit filed in Brooklyn Federal Court said.



On the inapt behaviour, they asked why it was being done to them responding to which the crew asked them again to exit “peacefully” and “demanded” that they reach the gate and wait for further instructions.

"It basically made me feel like a criminal," WH said, adding, "It was like I was put on a pedestal where everyone is pointing at you. I was frightened that they were frightened."



The group of four did what was demanded of them and were later told by an airline agent that "they could not board because the crew members, and specifically the captain, felt uneasy and uncomfortable with their presence on the flight and as such, refused to fly unless they were removed from the flight," the lawsuit report said.

"They said it was protocol," Anand said.

The article originally appeared in NDTV