On Friday, March 13, Vistara has barred stand-up comedian Kunal Kamra from its flights till April 27.
Kamra took to Twitter to write, “Air vistara has also banned me now till the 27th April, following orders like they show... at a time where no one can fly, all I want to say is, neither am I sorry nor am I surprised, nor am I suffering...”
A Vistara spokesperson said, “Based on the order passed by an internal committee constituted by InterGlobe Aviation Ltd. in compliance with the respective CAR and following due process, we have placed the passenger on our no-fly list until 27 April, 2020,” said a Vistara spokesperson.
The decision comes following Kunal Kamra’s confromtation with Arnab Goswami on Indigo Airlines in January. Thereafter, Kamra had been banned by all airlines except Vistara and AirAsia.
On 28 January, Kamra had posted a video on Twitter of him speaking to Goswami in a flight. In the video, he asked the journalist a number of questions. He went on to ask him if he’s a journalist or a “coward”. He also said that Arnab had called him mentally unstable when he had first approached him.
Following his confrontation with Goswami, which went viral on social media, IndiGo suspended Kamra for six months. This was followed by Air India, which barred him “until further notice” to “discourage such behaviour”, as well as SpiceJet and Go Air which decided to suspend him from flying with the airline till further notice on 29 January.
IndiGo, in its tweet, had termed Kamra's conduct as 'unacceptable behaviour' and urged passengers “to refrain from indulging in personal slander whilst onboard”. Civil Aviation Minister Hardeep Singh Puri had also asked other airlines to follow suit.
After the suspensions, Kamra issued a statement saying it was “not shocking at all” that he was being banned from these airlines for “exercising my right to free speech”.
He had also issued a legal notice to Indigo. Apart from an unconditional apology, Kamra had also asked for the ban to be revoked and demanded a compensation of Rs 25 lakh.
Post the notice, Indigo had reduced the ban to three months, and Kamra had responded to that too.
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