Antara Telang is a director at a startup company based out of a Mumbai, India. She travels a lot for her job and is used to the security processes in place at airports.
But during an experience at Chhatrapati Shivaji International Airport on Saturday, Telang was told to remove her prosthetic leg during security checks. She was told she wouldn't be able to board her flight to Bangalore until she did so.
"I reached the security check at 5 a.m. and was asked to remove my prosthetic leg," she told BuzzFeed.
"I literally had to hop on one leg holding my 6 kg (about 13 pounds) prosthetic in my hand to give it to them," she said. "After this, they didn’t even allow me to stand outside, saying, ‘People will see you.’ This coming after they’ve made me strip and are passing my body part through a public scanner. Finally, it was given to me, and I was allowed to board my flight after the 45 minute ordeal."
Telang, whose prosthetic extends up to her thigh, started using the artificial device when she was 18 after a tree fell of her, breaking one of her legs and completely crushing the other. She had never been asked to remove her prosthetic during any of her previous travels.
Telang said she was crying by the time officials gave her her boarding pass.
A Mumbai airport helpline told BuzzFeed that all prosthetics are required to be scanned through a scanning machine before passengers are allowed to board flights.