As part of a proposed amendment to security rules, civil aviation minister K Rammohan Naidu on Monday said that convicted hoax callers and social media posters would be given life imprisonment. The minister also proposed putting the offenders on the no-fly list.
The visit by Naidu to Bengaluru comes in the aftermath of Boeing 737 aircraft of SpiceJet being forced to make an emergency landing at the airport after it lost communication with the ground radar.
Naidu confirmed that amendments are planned to the rules relating to aviation security as well as the Suppression of Unlawful Acts Against Safety of Civil Aviation Act, 1982. He said the central government is planning to take legislative actions to deal with instances of bomb threats to airlines, which have plagued airport authorities, carriers and flyers over the past week.
We have another act since the 1980s, we need to cover the offences on ground and at airports,” he said while adding that the Bureau of Civil Aviation Security (BCAS) is continuously in touch with the home ministry on the situation of bomb threats to flights.
Section 3 of the Act pertained to life imprisonment and fine if any communication was made “onboard” to affect flight operations. The ministry of civil aviation is now proposing to make any such disruption from the ground also punishable with life term.
CNN-News18 has reported exclusively that the central government was planning to bring an amendment to the law to control the menace of hoax calls. At least 100 flights of different airline services received such threats, which later turned out to be hoaxes.
The terror angle Asked if there was any terror angle to it, Naidu refused to comment on the ground that there was no point doing so when the investigation has not gone enough. “It will be a cognisable offence – punishment and penalty – we want to do it as soon as possible. The MoCA (Ministry of Civil Aviation) has sent its inputs to the other ministries for consultation, he said.
He said this is happening over the last week. “I want to assure the people whenever there is a threat, we have to follow a very strict protocol that is internationally guided.
