With the row over flight ban by four passenger carrier airlines IndiGo, Air India and SpiceJet and GoAir on stand-up-comedian Kunal Kamra for “unacceptable behaviour” onboard, snowballing into a huge controversy, the comedian on Saturday has taken the fight to court and sent a legal notice to IndiGo airline demanding a compensation of Rs 25 lakh for ‘causing mental pain and agony.’
Kamra on January 29 was barred from flying alleging that while travelling on a Mumbai-Lucknow IndiGo flight recently, he provoked a TV news anchor by asking questions over news presentation style. The Mumbai based comedian who is known for being critical of BJP government polices, Kamra posted a video of him confronting an editor-in-chief of a TV channel while on flight on January 28.
In the legal notice sent to the airlines, Kamra demands from to revoke six month ban by IndiGo on flying and asked the airline to tender unconditional apology towards Kamra, to pay a compensation of Ra 25 lakh for losses he incurred because of the cancellation of shows and to take action against the officials who are at wrong to take arbitrary ban without following the rules.
The Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) on Wednesday said the action by the carriers is in complete consonance with its regulations.
“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 the handling of unruly passengers.” a DGCA statement said.
It further stated that an internal committee will give a decision in 30 days by giving reasons in writing, which shall be binding on the airline concerned.
Interestingly, the DGCA’s statement came hours after its director general Arun Kumar purportedly told HuffPost that the ban announced on Kamra was a “clear violation” of its rules regarding the handling of unruly passengers. The DGCA tweeted that the report had “misquoted/misrepresented the facts” stated by Arun Kumar.
While SpiceJet, Air India and GoAir had banned Kamra “till further notice”, IndiGo had suspended Kunal Kamra from flying with it for six months.