The comedian Kunal Kamra has been in the new for the past two days for allegedly hecklingEditor of the Republic TV network, Arnab Goswami. Both of them were co-passengers on an Indigo flight. In a video posted by Kamra on Twitter, he is seen asking questions of Arnab Goswami, who appears to be ignoring them. The tweet’s caption read - “I did this for my hero...I did it for Rohit”
This video went viral in no time, following which IndiGo decided to ban the comedian on its flights for a period of six months. This was followed by a tweet by the Union Civil Aviation Minister, Hardeep Singh Puri, asking other airlines to follow IndiGo’s example.
It is said that several airlines also received verbal directives from the government on the matter. Subsequently, the state-owned airline, Air India decided to ban the comedian from its flights until further notice and later all airplines except Vistara imposed a travel ban on Kamra.
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While internet is still divided on who was right in this regards, another angle to this story has now been placed in the public domain. As per an internal email with Captain Rohit Mateti, Kunal Kamra's behaviour was "unsavouray" but itdid not qualify for unruly behavious. He even said that it was sad to note that the decision in this regards was made only basis what was reported on social media.
Captain Rohit Mateti goes on to say, “Disheartened to learn that my airline has taken action in this case solely on the basis of social media posts,” the pilot, Rohit Mateti, wrote in his statement. “Kamra’s behaviour, while unsavoury, was not qualifying of a level one unruly passenger. Pilots can attest to incidents which were similar and/or worse in nature that were not deemed unruly.”
Only fair to place on record @IndiGo6E Captain Rohit Mateti's version of the @kunalkamra88 / Arnab episode. Here goes his internal email : pic.twitter.com/zt9QPgC0GP
— Tarun Shukla (@shukla_tarun) January 30, 2020
The complete statement can be read on Twitter including in the tweet that is embedded above. Following this, IndiGo has released a statement which states, “We have taken cognizance of the letter of the pilot, who was operating the flight on which Kunal Kamra and Arnab Goswami were travelling. We have received the relevant statements and the internal committee has initiated the investigation regarding this incident".
However, other airlines including Air India have so far not given any stand on this mattter. While the investigation are going on one can only wonder if the government jumped the gun on this one a littletoo soon. Another question that most people are asking is, "whether such a harsh measure was required for an action of this nature?"
What are your thoughts and opinions on this matter, do let us know.
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