I am doing political comedy but tomorrow, if I find myself in a legal tangle, or things get serious, I will give it up. I will go back to ‘Do you know what happens in Punjabi weddings? I am first a standup comic. I am clear about that. (Source: Janak Rathod)
Stand-up comedian Kunal Kamra, who was slapped with a six-month ban by IndiGo for heckling journalist Arnab Goswami on board its flight, has sent a legal notice to the airline, 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 calls for the revocation of the six-month flying suspension from immediate effect. It also seeks an apology from the airline.
“Pay compensation towards my client in sum of Rs 25,00,000/- 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 on the subject matter,” the notice states.
Apart from IndiGo, Air India, SpiceJet and GoAir have also put Kamra on their no-fly list.
On Thursday, the pilot in charge of the IndiGo aircraft in which Kamra and Goswami were travelling wrote to the airline, objecting to the ban on Kamra. Questioning the process followed to ban the comedian from flying, the pilot-in-command conveyed to the airline that he was “disheartened to learn that my airline has taken action in this case solely on the basis of social media posts, with no consultation whatsoever with the Pilot-in-Command”.
In his e-mail, the pilot-in-command described the incident in detail and pointed out that while Kamra’s behaviour was “unacceptable and verbally abusive”, he complied with the crew’s instructions and the offence “cannot be classified” even in the Level 1 category.
“While he did briefly display Level 1 traits for disruptive behaviour… he was also immediately compliant of crew instruction, was never issued a red warning card and hence cannot be classified as such. Furthermore, in-line with the IndiGo SEP (security & emergency procedures) Manual guidelines for Disruptive Behaviour, the situation was defused, the passenger in question kept under observation and the cabin kept in lockdown for the duration of the flight. Hence, no further action on the part of the Cockpit Crew was required,” the pilot wrote.
“Your love & support is helping me go legal against @IndiGo6E. Also Lawmen & 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,” Kamra tweeted.
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