A 33-year-old Indian-origin Singaporean woman has said that she was “humiliated” by German police when was told to squeeze her breast at Frankfurt airport to prove she was lactating, a media report said on Tuesday.
Gayathiri Bose, a manager at a transport company who has a three-year-old child and a seven-month-old baby, said she has filed a complaint with German police alleging she was told to squeeze her breast at airport security to prove she was lactating.
She told the BBC she was “humiliated” and “very traumatized” by the experience and would explore formal legal action.
She said police at Frankfurt Airport were suspicious because she was carrying a breast pump but travelling without her baby.
German police declined to comment on the specific allegations, the report said. But they said such measures were “clearly” not part of routine procedure.
Bose, who was travelling alone, said she was on her way to board a flight to Paris last Thursday when she was stopped at the security screening station.
She said that after her carry-on bag, which contained her breast pump, went through the X-ray machine, she was taken aside for questioning.
“[They had] an incredulous tone. ‘You are breastfeeding? Then where is your baby? Your baby is in Singapore?’,” she said about the 45-minutue episode.
They kept her passport and she was then led to a room by a female police officer for further questioning, she said.
Inside the room, “She asked me to open up my blouse and show her my breast. She wanted me to show her by hand- expressing a little.”
Bose said she complied and squeezed her breast. “I was just in shock, I was going through the motions. I was all by myself as well, and wasn’t sure what would happen to me if they decided to make trouble for me.”
