The passport is not a licence to misbehave

Some stories are embarrassing because they are unusual. Others keep returning until they begin to look like a pattern.In recent years, Indian travellers have appeared in reports from aircraft cabins, airports, and streets abroad. The cases include drunken misconduct, fights, theft, assault, fraud, and alleged wildlife smuggling. Social media has added videos of tourists shouting, littering or treating landmarks as private stages.Most Indian tourists do not behave this way. But when the same conduct keeps making news, it deserves a serious look. “Incredible India” cannot be a tourism slogan at home and a punchline abroad.In November 2022, a passenger on a New York–Delhi flight was accused of urinating on an elderly woman in business class. A police case followed; he was arrested, and Air India banned him. In March 2023, another passenger on the same route was accused of urinating on a male co-passenger. American Airlines reportedly banned him, and the matter drew police attention in India.His passport deposited in court in ED case, Gujarat man secures another with fake papersTwo cases do not prove a national habit. But passengers trapped inside an aircraft have no escape from another person’s drunkenness or aggression.In March 2024, Thai authorities arrested six Indian nationals at Bangkok’s Suvarnabhumi Airport after reportedly finding 87 live animals—including a red panda, monkey, birds, snakes and lizards—in their luggage. If proved, this was an alleged wildlife-smuggling operation, not a lapse in etiquette.Thailand appeared again in June 2024, when tourists were filmed beating another man in a Pattaya street. Police intervened.Singapore’s Changi Airport featured in several separate cases from late 2024 through 2025. Indian nationals were arrested or investigated over alleged thefts involving perfumes, souvenirs, a tie clip and other goods. One case involved 14 shops.These were separate cases, not a judgment on every Indian passenger. But repetition creates an impression, and theft will not be ignored at Changi.When the aircraft becomes a battlegroundIn February 2025, an Indian passenger travelling to Singapore was accused of grabbing a fellow passenger, pushing a seat, seizing a crew member’s wrist and threatening to kill him. He was reportedly arrested after landing. In another case, a passenger was accused of pushing a female cabin crew member into a lavatory. He was arrested on arrival and faced a charge.Cabin crew are responsible for everyone’s safety. Threatening or assaulting them puts a flight under strain.In Pattaya, a tourist was arrested in 2025 after allegedly using a fake bank transfer slip to pay for food and drinks. In October, two Indian tourists in Singapore pleaded guilty to robbing and assaulting two women. Each received more than five years in prison and 12 strokes of the cane. That was a conviction. A passport gives a traveller the right to cross a border. It does not give anyone the right to ignore the law, humiliate strangers or intimidate airline staff.Alongside the criminal cases are videos of Indian visitors singing loudly at landmarks, playing music in public, performing Garba, spitting on roads and leaving rubbish on beaches. Some of this is plainly inconsiderate. A railway carriage is not a living room, and a beach is not a dustbin.But a video is not automatically proof. It may not establish when it was recorded, who appears in it or whether it was authorised. Some claims remain unverified. Criticism is strongest when it rests on police records, court proceedings, airline action or authenticated footage.The first responsibility lies with the traveller. People who steal, assault, threaten, harass, defraud or smuggle animals must answer to the law of the country where the alleged offence took place. Consular assistance should explain the legal process, not shield anyone from it.Companies sending employees abroad should brief them on local laws, alcohol, harassment, photography, transport and public conduct. The government should offer country-specific guidance in Indian languages. A compulsory test may be unrealistic, but nobody should leave with only a passport and a boarding pass and no idea of the rules abroad.India’s image is built not only through tourism campaigns but also in aircraft aisles, airport shops, hotel corridors and beaches. Most Indian travellers behave responsibly. Yet they pay the reputational cost when others are noisy, aggressive or dishonest.This is not an argument against Indians travelling abroad. It is an argument for a basic standard: respect the place, obey the law, leave public spaces as you found them and control your behaviour.Patriotism does not require pretending that embarrassing incidents did not happen. Sometimes the best way to protect a country’s reputation is to admit where it is failing—and insist on better.The writer is the co-founder of Bangalore Literature Festival and founder, International Writers and Readers Festival, Goa.(Disclaimer: The views expressed above are the author’s own. They do not necessarily reflect the views of DH.)

Source: Deccan Herald