Video of a man slapping fellow passenger on an IndiGo Flight going viral with a false communal angle

The man seen in the video was slapped by a co-passenger, but both the accused and the victim belong to the same religion.

A video showing a man in Muslim attire getting slapped by a fellow passenger on a flight is going viral with the claim that the person who slapped him is a Hindu, a communal attack against a Muslim youth inside an IndiGo flight. Users alleged that a co-passenger slapped the man because of his religious identity.

Let’s check the truth.

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Fact Check- 

We started our investigation with a keyword and reverse image search on Google and the results led us to multiple news reports regarding this incident. As per the report, “A man was slapped by a fellow passenger on an Indigo aircraft after he suffered a panic attack right after boarding the plane. The unruly passenger was asked by the pilot to leave the aircraft for assaulting his fellow traveller. The disturbing incident was recorded by another flyer on the Mumbai-Kolkata flight on 1 August”.

The reports confirm that the man who slapped Hussain Ahmed Majumdar is also a Muslim, named Hafijul Rahaman. According to the reports, Majumdar, a hotel worker from Assam, was slapped by Rahaman during an IndiGo flight from Mumbai to Silchar via Kolkata after he suffered a panic attack. 

Moving forward, we found the official Twitter page of the Bidhannagar Police shared a post regarding the incident on 1 August 2025, they received a complaint from IndiGo regarding two Indian male passengers on flight 6E-138 from Mumbai to Kolkata. A heated altercation took place during the flight, following which one passenger, Hafijul Rahaman, slapped the other, Hossain Ahmed Majumdar. IndiGo cabin crew declared Hafijul an unruly passenger and handed him over to the police. Legal action has been initiated. This confirms that the man who slapped Majumdar is also a Muslim, not a Hindu as claimed in the viral video.

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We also came across this Twitter post by Jagriti Chandra, aviation journalist with The Hindu, who confirmed that both the persons belonged to the same religious community.

IndiGo airlines declared the assaulter unruly and suspended him for flying on their flights. Additionally, IndiGo announced on their official Twitter handle that Hafijul Rahman has been put on the no-fly list due to his behaviour towards Hossain Ahmed Majumdar.

Based on these evidences, we can understand that there is no communal angle in this incident.

Conclusion-

Fact Crescendo found the claim made along with the viral video to be Misleading. Although an altercation aboard an IndiGo flight occurred, there is no communal angle. The man seen in the video was slapped by a co-passenger, but both the accused and the victim belong to the same religion.