Delhi High Court junks ‘comedian’ Kunal Kamra’s plea challenging his flying ban, says “Kamra’s in-flight behaviour unacceptable”

In a major setback to ‘comedian’ Kunal Kamra, the Delhi High Court has refused to consider a plea filed by him challenging the flying ban imposed on him by IndiGo, Air Vistara and other airlines after he heckled television journalist Arnab Goswami onboard an IndiaGo flight in January this year.

Disapproving of Kamra’s boorish conduct onboard a flight, the Delhi High Court said, “This kind of behaviour certainly can’t be permitted.”

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The so-called comedian was banned by 5 airlines after he heckled Republic TV Editor-in-Chief Arnab Goswami on an Indigo flight from Mumbai to Lucknow in January. He also recorded the video of his heckling Mr Goswami and later gloated on Twitter that he gave a ‘monologue’ to the Republic TV Editor-in-Chief by sharing the video on the microblogging website.

In an increasingly rancorous tone, Mr Kamra kept hectoring Mr Arnab Goswami while the plane was airborne, imperilling the lives of fellow co-passengers onboard. Despite Mr Goswami’s steadfast disregard of the badgering, the ‘comedian’ kept hurling abuses and expletives against the Republic TV Editor-in-Chief, deliberately flouting safety norms of the aircraft.

Following the incident, which many claims to be a propaganda stunt by Mr Kamra, Indigo banned him for flying for six months citing his unceremonious behaviour onboard. The Union Minister for Civil Aviation, Harshdeep Singh Puri lauded Indigo’s decision to put Kamra on the no-fly list and urged other airlines to follow the suit. Shortly thereafter, other airlines Spicejet, Air India and Go Air also banned Mr Kamra from flying on their airlines. Recently, Air Vistara too imposed the fly ban on the Mumbai-bases stand-up ‘comedian’.

Despite the ban from multiple airlines, Mr Kamra remained undeterred by the action initiated by the airlines and approached the Delhi High Court against the ban imposed against him. However, the court too refused to consider Mr Kamra’s plea saying his behaviour onboard was impermissible.