HC relief for 2 MPs in air traffic rule violation case

Ranchi: The Jharkhand high court on Monday quashed an FIR lodged against BJP Godda MP Nishikant Dubey and parliamentarian Manoj Tiwary for allegedly violating air traffic rules at Deoghar airport.
The court of Justice Sanjay Kumar Dwivedi after having heard a quashing petition filed by Dubey, Tiwary and several others, including the two sons of the Godda MP, quashed the FIR lodged in Kunda police station in Deoghar in August last year.
The police registered the FIR after it came to be known that on August 31, Dubey, his sons and MP Manoj Tiwary entered the air traffic control tower and pressurised the officials to ensure that their chartered flight for Delhi takes off from Deoghar.
This was against the security protocol maintained in airports, the FIR said.
Dubey’s counsel told the court that the flight was delayed. However, a flight can take off half an hour after sunset according to the aviation rules. On that day, the sun had set at 6.03 pm while the flight took off at 6.17 pm, which was within the accepted norms of flying, he said.