Civil Aviation Minister Hardeep Singh Puri on Tuesday backed the stand taken by Indigo Airlines in banning Indian stand-up comedian Kunal Kamra from flying in their airlines for six months for 'inappropriate' behaviour onboard an aircraft.
Hardeep Puri called upon other airlines to follow suit against Kunal Kamra for his behaviour with noted TV anchor.
ALSO READ: Kunal Kamra suspended from flying in IndiGo for six months for 'heckling' TV anchor onboard
The incident in question took place recently on board 6E 5317 from Mumbai to Lucknow in which Kamra is seen lashing out at senior journalist Arnab Goswami calling him 'a nationalist', a member of the 'Tukde Tukde gang'.
Kamra was 'heckling' the journalist for taking up Hyderabad University student Rohit Vemula's, who committed suicide in 2016, caste on National TV in one of his panel discussions.
Kunal tweeted about the incident on Tuesday afternoon and it became viral. His tweet with a video attached bragged about it saying, "I did it for my hero. I did it for Rohit".
The TV journalist is seen with earphones, remaining silent throughout the incident.
In a statement, IndiGo Airlines tweeted in two separate tweets saying 'In light of the recent incident on board 6E 5317 from Mumbai to Lucknow, we wish to inform that we are suspending Mr Kunal Kamra from flying with IndiGo for a period of six months, as his conduct onboard was unacceptable behaviour. Hereby, we wish to advise our passengers to refrain from indulging in personal slander whilst onboard, as this can potentially compromise the safety of fellow passengers.'
In response, Hardeep Singh Puri tweeted, 'Offensive behaviour designed to provoke & create disturbance inside an aircraft is absolutely unacceptable & endangers safety of air travellers. We are left with no option but to advise other airlines to impose similar restrictions on the person concerned.'
Meanwhile, Air India on its official twitter handle also put out a tweet stating, 'In view of the incident onboard @IndiGo6E, Air India wishes to inform that conduct of Person concerned is unacceptable. With a view to discourage such behaviour onboard flts, Mr Kunal Kamra is suspended from flying on any Air India flt until further notice.'
In September 2017, the Ministry of Civil Aviation had said that unruly passengers could be put on a 'No Fly list'.