A 25-year-old woman on her way to Agartala from Bangalore was grounded in Calcutta on Sunday morning after she was found to be suffering from chicken pox.

“Sushmita Sen, who boarded Air India’s Bangalore-Calcutta-Dibrugarh flight with her parents, did not declare that she had been suffering from chicken pox,” said an airport official.

Aviation rules prohibit people suffering from contagious diseases, such as chicken pox and measles, from flying. If the crew comes across any flier showing symptoms of a contagious disease, he/she has to be offloaded at the nearest airport and examined by the airport doctor.

The rules also state that a person who has just recovered from an ailment has to produce a “fit to fly” certificate from a doctor before he/she is allowed on board.

Sushmita, a resident of Bangalore, was supposed to get off at Calcutta and board a connecting flight to Agartala, where she had landed a job.

“An air-hostess had noticed pockmarks on the passenger’s face and enquired about her heath. When she said she was not feeling well, the air-hostess isolated her, allotting her a seat in an empty row,” said an official.

When the flight landed in Calcutta at 8.25am, the airline authorities took her to the airport doctor who diagnosed her with chicken pox. The officials then told her that she would not be allowed to board the flight to Agartala.

Airport and airline sources said Sushmita and her parents then left for a relative’s house in Calcutta.

Sushmita reportedly told the authorities that she was not aware of her medical condition while boarding the flight. The Sens could not be contacted.

“Our duty was to take an ailing passenger to a doctor immediately after landing at the nearest airport,” said an airline official.

The Air India flight was emptied and fumigated before it was allowed to leave for Dibrugarh.