Country within its rights to prosecute unruly behaviour on-board foreign registered India-bound aircraft, says top lawyer

Passengers indulging in unruly behaviour on board India-bound flights on foreign registered aircraft, such as the incident reported on a Thai Smile Airways flight, can still be brought to the book, an international expert on civil aviation law has told Business Today.

Interim director at the Institute of air and space Law at the Montreal-based McGill University, Dr. Donal Hanley, opined that Article 4 of the Montreal Protocol of 2014 to the Tokyo Convention of 1963 gives the state where the aircraft lands jurisdiction over the offender, where the offence has been committed after embarkation and closing of aircraft doors.

Although India is a signatory to Article 4 of the Montreal Protocol, 2014, to the Tokyo Convention, it is yet to ratify it, while Thailand is yet to sign it.

“The original Tokyo Convention of 1963 is in force in India and Thailand, and provides that the state of registration has jurisdiction but also states that it does not exclude any criminal jurisdiction exercised in accordance with national law under,” said Dr. Hanley.

“Further, Article 4 allows a state, other than the state of registration, to interfere with an aircraft in flight where an offence has been committed by or against one of its nationals or permanent residents,” he added.

Aviation minister promises stern action

Meanwhile, within hours of the Business Today report that passengers involved in a mid-air brawl on a Thai Smile Airways flight to India may get away lightly, as the December 26 incident had happened on a foreign registered aircraft, civil aviation minister Jyotiraditya Scindia promised stern action against the culprits.

The mid-air scuffle ostensibly took place after one of the passengers declined to adjust his reclined seat to the upright position as part of the standard safety procedure citing a backache during take-off from Bangkok on the carrier’s Bangkok-Kolkata flight. Fisticuffs ensued after other passengers on the flight took objection to the passenger’s uncooperative attitude.

Dr. Hanley agreed that as the world’s fastest-growing aviation market, India needed to take a serious view of such unruly behaviour.

“In general, passengers and crew have a right to personal safety in a confined environment and various treaties provide for proper jurisdiction to prosecute offences against such right,” declared Dr. Hanley.

Also read: 'Unacceptable': Jyotiraditya Scindia on mid-air fight on Bangkok-Kolkata flight; police case filed

Also read: DGCA confirms passengers involved in Thai airline brawl may get away lightly, call to check unruly behaviour grows