The Supreme Court on Tuesday dismissed Jharkhand government’s plea challenging the state High Court order that quashed an FIR against Bharatiya Janata Party ‘s Lok Sabha members Nishikant Dubey and Manoj Tiwari for allegedly forcing Deogarh’s Air Traffic Control (ATC) to approve take-off of their chartered flight in August 2022.
Declining the state government’s appeal challenging the High Court order and seeking the restoration of the FIR against BJP’s MPs, a bench of Justice Dipankar Datta and Manmohan in a judgment pronounced today said that there were no grounds to revive the case under the Indian Penal Code’s Sections 441 (criminal trespass) and 336 (endangering life or personal safety of others).
However, the judgment authored by Justice Manmohan directed the Jharkhand government to forward the relevant material to an authorised officer under the Aircraft Act within four weeks to examine if a case is justified in the matter under this law.
Accusing Dubey, Tiwari, and others of pressuring the ATC to allow their chartered flight to take off, the Jharkhand government had asserted that the ATC area is a protected zone.
The FIR was registered in the first week of September 2023.
Following instructions from the Deoghar deputy commissioner, the Jharkhand police filed an FIR against pilot of the chartered plane, Dubey, his two sons, Manoj Tiwari, Mukesh Pathak, Devta Pandey, Pintu Tiwary, and Sandeep Dhingra, the airport director, for allegedly pressuring officials at the airport to clear their chartered flight for take-off on the night of August 31.
The complaint said, “Nine people — Nishikant Dubey, Kanishk Kant Dubey, Mahikant Dubey, Manoj Tiwari, Kapil Mishra, Sheshadri Dubey, Sunil Tiwari, and others — arrived in Deoghar by a chartered plane at 1 pm on August 31. During their return in the evening, some of them, including Dubey, forcibly entered the ATC room.”
The complaint further stated that at approximately 17:25 hrs, passengers arrived at the airport to board the chartered flight. They were accompanied by others who had come to see them off. The security in-charge noted that Deoghar airport lacks an Instrument Flight Rules (IFR) facility, meaning night take-offs and landings are not permitted. On August 31, the local sunset time was 18:03 hrs, with air services operational only until 17:30 hrs.
In September 2023, Dubey denied any rule violations, asserting that all protocols were followed. The BJP MP stated that the trip was to seek justice for a girl who had been set ablaze by a stalker.