After IndiGo, Air India, SpiceJet and GoAir suspended stand-up comedian Kunal Kamra from flying with them over a confrontation with journalist Arnab Goswami aboard an IndiGo Mumbai-Lucknow flight, the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) said on Wednesday, 29 January, that the action taken by airlines is in complete consonance with its regulations.
In a statement on Wednesday, the DGCA said, "This is to reiterate that the action taken by the airlines is in complete consonance with Civil Aviation Requirements (CAR) Section-3, Series M Part VI on handling of unruly passengers."
"Now the matter is to be referred to the internal committee as prescribed in para 6.1 of the said CAR. Further, as per para 6.4 of the CAR, the internal committee is to give the final decision in 30 days by giving the reasons in writing, which shall be binding on the airline concerned. Punishment for different type of unruly behaviour is also prescribed in the same CAR and the internal committee has to adhere to the same," it added.
While SpiceJet, Air India and GoAir have banned Kamra "till further notice", IndiGo has suspended him from flying with it for six months.
Kamra, on Tuesday, 28 January, posted a video of him speaking to Goswami in a flight. In the video, he can be seen asking the journalist a number of questions. Kamra says that Arnab had called him mentally unstable when he first approached the journalist. Further, Kamra goes on to ask him if he’s a journalist or a ‘coward’.
Kamra had captioned the video, “I did this for my hero...I did it for Rohit,” referring to Dalit scholar Rohith Vemula, who killed himself in 2016.
After IndiGo suspended Kamra from flying with the airline for a period of six months, citing “unacceptable behaviour”, Civil Aviation Minister Hardeep Singh Puri tweeted saying, “Offensive behaviour designed to provoke and create disturbance inside an aircraft is absolutely unacceptable and endangers safety of air travellers. We are left with no option but to advise other airlines to impose similar restrictions on the person concerned.”
(With inputs from PTI.)
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