Kunal Kamra sends legal notice to IndiGo airlines against travel ban, demands Rs 25 lakh as compensation

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Taking a legal recourse, stand-up comedian Kunal Kamra sent a notice to IndiGo airlines, which has suspended him from flying with them for six months following his confrontation with journalist Arnab Goswami onboard an IndiGo flight. Apart from demanding an unconditional apology, Kamra asked for the revocation of the ban and Rs 25 lakh as compensation.

In a legal notice sent to the airline on Friday, Kamra's lawyer asked the airline to "pay compensation towards my client in sum of Rs 25 lakhs on account of the mental pain and agony suffered by my client as well as losses incurred on account of cancellation of his scheduled shows and programmes in India as well as abroad on account of adoption of a totally illegal, arbitrary and high-handed procedure which is against the extant DGCA CAR (regulations)".

"There has been a total non-compliance of the principles of natural justice inasmuch as My Client at no point of time was never informed of the allegations against him that led up to the ban being issued, and neither has he been provided with a copy of the Complaint as made by any passenger or crew member regarding the fact that his behavior on the said flight was unruly and/or disruptive. My Client has also not been served with any notice regarding any proceeding being initiated/contemplated against him and neither was he ever given any opportunity to rebut the same or to make any submission/representation in his defense prior to precipitative and coercive action being taken against him. Suffice it to say that the principles of natural justice are applicable to judicial, quasi-judicial and administrative authorities even if not provided for in statute, where the decision of authority concerned would result in civil or evil consequences," the notice read.

Kamra also took to Twitter to share the news: "You’re love and support is helping me go legal against IndiGo 6E. Also Lawmen and White have taken this fight to court for me as special case, To all artists out there don’t fear there are enough good people in society to always support the constitution."

The comedian was banned by India's largest airline for six months on Tuesday for allegedly harassing Goswami during a Mumbai to Lucknow flight. SpiceJet, GoAir and Air India also imposed a similar ban on Kamra without specifying any period.

"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," the airline had tweeted.

The controversy surfaced after Kamra posted a video clip on Twitter, where he is seen asking Goswami if he is a "coward or a journalist".

In the video, Kamra could be heard demanding a reply from Goswami, asking him if he is a "coward or a journalist or a nationalist". However, Goswami did not reply to Kamra.

While Goswami can be seen sitting in the plane and watching something on his laptop with his earphones plugged in, Kamra is heard telling him, "Viewers want to know if Arnab today is a coward or a nationalist. Arnab, this is for national interest. I am part of the tukde-tukde narrative. You should deflate me. You should take the enemy of the states down. You should make sure that the country is in safe hands of Narendra Modi."

Later, Kamra in a statement explaining what happened onboard the IndiGo flight and said that he had apologised to all crew members, pilots, but expressed no remorse for what he said to Goswami. "I apologise to all passengers except one."

With inputs from PTI



from Firstpost India Latest News https://ift.tt/2OhUKrw
FP Staff

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