Stand-up comedian Kunal Kamra on Saturday served a legal notice on IndiGo, seeking an unconditional apology and ₹25 lakh in compensation as well as the revocation of the airline’s “arbitrary” six-month ban on him from flying.
Mr. Kamra, soon after sending the legal notice through his lawyer, tweeted, “Lawmen & White have taken this fight to court for me as a special case. To all artistes out there don’t fear. There are enough good people in society to always support the constitution.”
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The notice calls the ban “illegal, high handed and arbitrary” and against “the principles of natural justice”.
The move comes after the commander of the flight on which Mr. Kamra heckled journalist Arnab Goswami told the airline management that he did not think that the incident qualified as unruly behaviour as defined under the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) rules. The captain also said he had not reported the incident to the airline on the same premise.
Mr. Kamra has now questioned how the airline proceeded to ban him without a complaint from the commander.
In the legal notice to IndiGo’s CEO Ronojoy Dutta, Mr. Kamra’s lawyer Prashant Sivarajan said that Arnab Goswami — against whom Mr. Kamra’s “exchanges” were directed — neither made any complaint nor requested the intervention of the cabin crew at any point of time during the flight.
Mr. Kamra first came to know about his ban through the airline’s post on Twitter on Tuesday night, Mr. Sivarajan said.
“It was only subsequently the next day at 9.38 am that my client received an email from your consumer relations team officially intimating him about the six-month ban,” said Mr. Sivarajan.
