As hoax calls about bombs on Indian flights continue unabated, the Centre is considering changes in law to hold such disruptors accountable. A top official in the Government of India told CNN-News18 that the ministry of civil aviation (MoCA) has proposed amendments to The Suppression of Unlawful Acts against Safety of Civil Aviation Act, 1982, to make hoax calls for flights a more stringently punishable crime.
“There was a view that the existing law only penalises disruption attempts made on board. We want to amend the law and bring within its purview all acts of disruption whether it is done from inside the flight or on the ground,” a MoCA official told News18.
Bill could come up in next Parliament session
The proposed amendments could be introduced in the winter session of Parliament. The focus of the amendments could be on section 3 of the existing Act, which deals with the offence of committing violence on board an aircraft in flight, etc.
Sources said this section could be amended to remove the “restrictions placed by the phrase, in flight”.
Similar changes could be brought for section 3(2) (d) as well. Subsection (d) of section 3(2) of the Act makes it punishable if anyone “communicates such information which he knows to be false so as to endanger the safety of an aircraft in flight”.
Under 3(2) (d) an offender can be punished with “imprisonment for life and shall also be liable to fine”.
Including offences made even while the offender is not on board will bring within the purview of this law hoax calls made on the phone, through email or social media as has been the recent trend.
While putting such an offender on the no-fly list was one of the punishments considered, officials said that amending 3(2)(d) could be a bigger deterrent.
Probe so far
More than 30 hoax calls have been received by airlines operating from India over the last five days. Twenty-seven of these were made to Air India alone while IndiGo and Vistara services were also disrupted after the bomb threat calls which turned out to be hoaxes.
The Bureau of Civil Aviation, state police, and Intelligence Bureau officials are coordinating investigations to reach the culprits, sources said. In at least two cases, the IDs used to post fake threats on social media have been traced to London and Germany.
“Based on the information provided by the social media platforms where the hoax threat was posted, the source was traced to London and Germany. But we are still probing if this point or origin or real location has been masked,” an official said.
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