Irony of ironies. The pilot-in-command of the IndiGo flight in which journalist Arnab Goswami was allegedly heckled by Kunal Kamra has told airline's management that he was "disheartened" to learn the carrier took action against the comedian without consulting him and solely on the basis of social media posts.
"As captain of 6E5317 Mumbai-Lucknow flight on January 28, I do not find the events reportable in any way. Mr. Kamra's behaviour, while unsavoury, was not qualifying of a level 1 unruly passenger. Indeed, we pilots can all attest to incidents similar and/or worse in nature that were not deemed unruly," the captain said in his email to the airline's management which has been accessed by PTI.
When asked about the pilot-in-command's email, IndiGo said, "We have received the relevant statements and the internal committee has initiated the investigation regarding this incident."
Certain Directorate General of Civil Aviation sources also said the ban by the airlines on the comedian is a violation of due process in situations such as this. The sources pointed out that while a ban was not against the rules, there is a process to be followed before such action can take place.
Meanwhile, stand-up comedian Kamra, who has been banned temporarily by several airlines, says he is sorry for "not being sorry". Kamra on Thursday took to Twitter, where he shared a photograph of himself holding a placard which read: "Arnab I just want to say I am not sorry."
He captioned the image: "Sorry for not being sorry."
