Government to Tighten Laws to Deal with False Bomb Threats to Airlines, Says Aviation Minister

The Union Civil Aviation Ministry is likely to amend laws to address the concerns regarding false bomb threats to airlines. While addressing a press conference on Monday, the civil aviation minister Rammohan Naidu said that the government plans to ban those behind false bomb threats and put them under a no-fly list. The aircraft security rules and suppression of unlawful acts against safety of civil aviation act are two legislations that the government is considering to amend.

“We have come to the conclusion that there are two areas that we can explore- 1) Amendment in Aircraft Security Rules...one of the ideas that we want to propagate by changing these rules is that once we catch hold of the perpetrator who is behind this, we want to put them in the no-flying list...,” said Naidu. 

The minister was referring to bomb threats received by nearly 100 flights of Indian airlines, including Spice Jet, Air Asia and Vistara in the past one week. IndiGo received security-related alerts for four of its flights on Monday. Similarly, Air India too mentioned getting similar threats via social media. 

“We immediately alerted the relevant authorities and are following all security procedures as directed by them,” an Air India spokesperson told PTI. 

The false bomb threats not only created chaos amongst the passengers but also disrupted airline operations. Additionally, the false alarms have raised concerns regarding aviation safety protocols in the country. 

Currently, the suppression of unlawful acts against safety of civil aviation act (SUASCA) only addresses offences when the aircraft is in flight. 

“While it (SUASCA) takes care of the offences when the aircraft is in flight, if we want to address these kinds of threats that have been happening... we have to cover the act on the ground and the airport also,” said Naidu. 

Although there’s no law in place that directly addresses such cases, provisions under the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, 2023 (BNS) and the Information Technology Act can be used to punish those responsible for false alarms. According to Section 353 of the BNS, people spreading false information that leads to public alarm will result in nearly three years in prison and/or a fine. Under Section 66F of the IT Act, the act of a hoax call made through digital channels or interfering with critical infrastructure is classified as cyber terrorism and can lead to life imprisonment.