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Centre's no-fly list to check misbehaviour could be a double-edged sword

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DailyBiteSep 08, 2017 | 21:01

Centre's no-fly list to check misbehaviour could be a double-edged sword

The Centre announced on Friday what has been in the offing for a while ever since Shiv Sena MP Ravindra Gaikwad was deboarded for unruly behaviour with an IndiGo airline staffer. While that incident led to a major debate on inflight ethics, VVIP misdemeanour and other nasties of Indian society, the no-fly list is a veritable byproduct of the same.

Union minister for civil aviation Ashok Gajapati Raju has announced the first ever no-fly list that bans unruly passengers from taking flights for travel, what's interesting is its three-tiered structure, which is sensitive to degrees of offence.

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For example, the minimum punishment is a three-month ban, which is for verbal abuse. The maximum is a three-year curb, which is applicable to passengers who physically assault others inflight, or display equally unworthy behaviour.

According to India Today: "The government earlier this year had announced draft rules for a national 'no-fly list' following consultations from the public and the industry stakeholders on the guidelines. The draft guidelines followed Shiv Sena MP Ravindra Gaikwad's misbehaviour with an Air India employee in March. Gaikwad was barred from flying by all domestic airlines before the ban was revoked. After the incident, the flag carrier had placed a ban on flying the Shiv Sena MP. Other private air passenger carriers' also imposed a similar ban on the Shiv Sena MP which was subsequently lifted on advice of the civil aviation ministry after Gaikwad expressed 'regrets' in the Lok Sabha over the March 23 incident."

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The new rules will be applicable to anyone on board an aircraft, VIPs and crew included.

It's important to note what the MoS for civil aviation Jayant Sinha said, "We have tried to achieve a balance between aircraft security and interests of passengers, cabin crew and airlines at large."

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Applicable to everyone

The new rules will be applicable to anyone on-board an aircraft, VIPs and crew included. It will fall under the DGCA's ambit of safety provisions. For any unruly behaviour on an airport premises, the aviation ministry clarified that relevant security agencies will deal with the matter under relevant penal provisions. The "no-fly" offence rules will run concurrent to any criminal proceedings initiated as per the law. They will be applicable to foreign carriers too subject to compliance with the Tokyo Convention of 1963.

Flip side of no-fly list

Who doesn't remember the infamous Priya Pollai episode when the government of India, especially the home ministry deplaned the Greenpeace activist onboard a flight to London to speak at a global forum on India's human rights violations. Although vindicated by the Supreme Court in a famous judgement that linked the right yo move about freely as an important and inalienable right of a citizen, such official no-fly lists could be easily exploited to prevent dissenters such as Pillai from boarding citing misdemeanour.

Airlines - whether private or public - can be arm-twisted by a regime that doesn't want dissenters, activists, left-wing intellectuals to gather for seminars, conferences or protests, as is rampant in the current climate. The easy conflation of the common offender with the dissenter is something that's just waiting to happen with an official no-fly list in place.

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Security paradigm

The "security" clause is of course of paramount significance and is a classic trope for governmental misappropriation and possible discrimination based on citizens, passengers' religion, ideology, world-views, in this case. Centre needs to guarantee in a written form no such discrimination would be allowed while constituting the no-fly list.

Relief in sight

Fortunately, there's scope for appeal and to challenge the no-fly tag. According to the India Today report:

"The revised Civil Aviation Requirements (CAR) also carry provisions of appeal against the ban. Aggrieved persons can appeal within a period of 60 days to the Appellate Committee formed by the Ministry of Civil Aviation."

However, we need to ask how much time, energy and money would be spent chasing justice in case of an unjust inclusion of a rights activist, dissenter, or journalist in the no-fly list.

Last updated: September 08, 2017 | 21:01
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