News

Volume 9 Issue 3 - April 15, 2012

Centre, D.G.C.A. served notice by Supreme Court on deplaning of passenger with disability

D.N.I.S. News Network, India: Responding to a writ petition filed in the Supreme Court by Jeeja Ghosh, a person with cerebral palsy who was deplaned from a SpiceJet flight from Kolkata to Goa on February 19, a Bench of Justices Aftab Alam and Ranjana Desai has issued notices to the Centre and the Director General of Civil Aviation (D.G.C.A.). The court also issued a notice to SpiceJet, for a direction to the airline to pay her damages for causing her humiliation and agony.

The petition said there have been many instances of violation of the rights of persons with disabilities travelling by air despite clear bindings and directives listed in the Civil Aviation Requirements (C.A.R.) on Carriage by Air of Persons with Disability and/or Persons with Reduced Mobility.

The petition also highlighted that Jeeja Ghosh was discriminated on the basis of her disability which goes against the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (C.R.P.D.), which India has ratified.