Govt. releases no fly list rules for unruly passengers

Civil Aviation Minister Ashok Gajapathi Raju released India's first three-tier rules for a national no-fly list on Friday in an effort to keep blacklisted people off airlines to ensure safety and check unruly behaviour.

Here are the three No-Fly offence categories:
Level 1 - unruly physical gestures, verbal harassment and unruly inebriation. Ban - upto 3 months.
Level 2 - physically abusive behaviour (pushing, kicking, hitting, inappropriate touching); Ban - upto 6 months .
Level 3- Life threatening behaviour - assaults, damage to aircraft systems etc. Ban - min. 2 years

''Decision will be taken by an independent committee under a retired District Judge within a period of 30 days of the alleged offence,'' the civil aviation minister said. He further said,''the No-Fly ban will be in addition to any statutory legal action that can be taken against the offender under existing laws.'' The no-fly list comes in the wake of several unruly incidents on airlines involving mainly Members of Parliament misbehaving with airline staff.

Earlier this year Shiv Sena MP Ravindra Gaikwad assaulted an Air India staffer. After the incident, all domestic airlines barred Gaikwad from flying, so much so that he had to travel by train. His party also raised the issue in Parliament, but the Civil Aviation minister held firm. The ban was rescinded after Gaikwad submitted an apology. Minister of state for civil aviation Jayant Sinha had earlier said, "India will be the first country in the world to have a national no-fly list based on safety." No-fly lists in other countries are based mainly on security considerations in order to prevent terrorist incidents.

India's list will combine the security aspect along with people who misbehave with airline staff and cause problems aboard air planes. The Ministry had released draft guidelines for the no-fly list in May which proposed that unruly passengers may be barred from flying from upto 3 months to forever, depending on the degree of misconduct. There are three categories of unruly flyers from the perspective of the no-fly list: The first are those who make abusive physical gestures which attracts a three month ban; the second category is for physical actions like striking and shoving and sexual harassment, which will attract a six month ban; the last category is for two years to life for threatening behaviour, including damage to the aircraft and property.