Stand-up comedian Kunal Kamra fails to get respite from Delhi High Court on flying ban from airlines

New Delhi: Stand-up comedian Kunal Kamra on Thursday (February 27) failed to respite from the Delhi High Court, which disposed of his petition against flying ban imposed on him by several airlines. The single judge HC bench of Justice Navin Chawla, however, directed the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) to decide Kamra's representation within eight weeks.

The comedian had filed the representation before the DGCA on February 20, prior to approaching the High Court. Notably, Kamra had posted a video of him confronting senior journalist Arnab Goswami, with whom he shared an IndiGo flight to Lucknow on January 28.

IndiGo airlines had suspended Kamra from flying in its airline for six months for being an unruly passenger. He was intimated of the same via a tweet from IndiGo’s handle. Later, other airlines including GoAir, Air India, and Spice Jet, had also banned him from flying with them indefinitely.

Pleading that the travel ban imposed on him was in violation of the Civil Aviation Rules, Kamra contended that punishment was imposed without following due process, as no Internal Committee was formed and no complaint was made in accordance with the law.

Notably, Kamra had posted the video saying "I did this for my hero.......i did this for Rohit." In the video, Arnab Goswami is seen not reacting to the comedian`s statements and remained glued to his laptop.  

Indigo had issued a statement saying, "In light of the recent incident on board 6E 5317 from Mumbai to Lucknow, we wish to inform that we are suspending Mr Kunal Kamra from flying with IndiGo for a period of six months, as his conduct onboard was unacceptable behaviour." 

Aviation Minister Hardeep Puri had also criticised Kamra's act and asked other airlines to follow Indigo footsteps.