International carrier Vistara Airlines has banned standup comedian Kunal Kamra till April 27 for heckling journalist Arnab Goswami on an Indigo flight in January, PTI quoted an airline official as saying on Friday.
Confirming the same, Kamra said he is not surprised by the action taken by the airlines. “Air Vistara has also banned me now till the 27th April, following orders like they show… at a time where no one can fly, all I want to say is, neither am I sorry nor am I surprised, nor am I suffering…,” Mr Kamra wrote on Twitter.
In late January, Kamra had posted a video of his encounter with Goswami, editor-in-chief of Republic TV on a Mumbai-Lucknow IndiGo flight. In the video, which went viral, Kamra was seen shooting questions at Goswami, who chose to ignore him and remained glued to his laptop.
Taking to Twitter, Union Aviation Minister Hardeep Singh Puri had then remarked that the airlines must ensure “zero tolerance for any activity which has the potential to jeopardize safety of passengers in an aircraft”. Following this, Kamra was banned by IndiGo, Air India, SpiceJet, and GoAir.
Kamra too had sent a legal notice to the IndiGo, demanding revocation of the ban and a compensation of Rs 25 lakh. The notice sent by Kamra’s counsel Prashant Sivarajan to the CEO of Interglobe Aviation Limited called for the revocation of the six-month flying suspension from immediate effect. It also sought an apology from the airline.
Recently, an internal committee formed by IndiGo to investigate into the incident reduced Kamra’s flying ban from the six months that the airline initially imposed, to three months effective from January 28.
