Mother claims she was forced to lactate at Frankfurt airport over 'suspicious' breast pump

A woman has filed a complaint with police after claiming she was forced to squeeze her breast to prove she was lactating at Frankfurt airport. Gayathiri Bose says that she was "humiliated" by German police as she travelled alone from Frankfurt to Paris.

The 33-year-old says she will now explore legal action. However, German police deny that she was forced into lactating.

Bose, from Singapore, said that staff stopped her at the airport and became suspicious as she was carrying a breast pump without her baby. The mother-of-two was stopped on 26 January after her breast pump went through the X-ray machine.

She said officers had an "incredulous tone" as they quizzed her about the pump before a female officer took her to a room for further questioning.

"She asked me to open up my blouse and show her my breast. She then asked how come I didn't have anything attached to my breast, if I was lactating and expressing breastmilk," Bose told the BBC.

"And I said, there is no such thing that is [permanently] attached, we usually place the pump to our nipple and the machine does the job. She wanted me to show her by hand-expressing a little."

Bose, a manager at a transport company, said she complied with the request out of shock but as she left the interview she became "terribly upset" before her pump was checked and cleared after around 45 minutes.

Her passport was eventually handed back to her and Bose took the name of the female officer who had interviewed her. Bose added. "The officer just said, 'OK, it is over now, please go.' She was totally nonchalant, she didn't seem very remorseful or empathetic."

A Frankfurt airport police spokesman confirmed to the BBC that Bose had been stopped but denied the officer had forced Bose to squeeze her breast.

"The federal police has been aware of the allegation since Friday. The investigation revealed that a necessary follow-up was carried out by the policewoman, who is a mother of two children herself," the force said in a statement.

"We deny the allegation that the passenger was asked to prove her ability to breastfeed."