According to sources, citing bomb threats received on various flights in the past eight days, a virtual meeting of several airline officials and different social media platforms was held on Tuesday evening.
The details reveal Air India and Vistara participated, and Joint Secretary Sanket S Bhondve chaired the meeting.
Hours later, on Wednesday, the Union Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology blasted social media platform X through which most of these hoaxes were circulated.
Social media platforms, including X, were also suggested to use Artificial Intelligence (AI)-based mechanisms to block accounts that send bulk messages or posts about bombs.
Even top officials of social media platforms were told to get cracking unilaterally rather than await the security grid to flag off an account.
In less than a week, over 170 flights operated by the Indian carriers have been threatened with bombs.
Meanwhile, the government is planning legislative actions against bomb threats to airlines, including placing the perpetrators on the no-fly list.
Amendments to The Suppression of Unlawful Acts against Safety of Civil Aviation Act (SUASCA), 1982, are proposed. Under these amendments, offenders could be arrested and probed without any court order when an aircraft is on the ground.
Changes in the aircraft security rules are also planned so that people who make bomb threats to flights will be punished severely.
The Delhi Police have lodged eight separate FIRs in connection with bomb threats to more than 90 domestic and international flights in the last eight days.
Officials said the flights include services from Akasa, Air India, IndiGo, and Vistara, adding the investigation is ongoing.
According to a senior police officer, threat messages were received through anonymous posts on X, which the authorities later suspended.
The officer said three accounts on the social media platform X have been found involved in posting threat messages about fights.
