Govt yet to take stand on death for hijackers

New Delhi: The heightened terror alert may scare passengers away from boarding flights, but potential hijackers still have no real reason to fear. For month after drawing up a "zero tolerance" anti-hijack proposal, the government is yet to take a stand on its most stringent point — capital punishment for hijackers.
The aviation ministry's draft policy, that had been cleared by the committee of secretaries some months back, had been referred to a group of ministers (GoM) to decide this issue.
This GoM is headed by law minister H R Bhardwaj and comprises science minister Kapil Sibal and aviation minister Praful Patel. When this policy was referred to the Cabinet for approval at the highest level, some Cabinet minister had expressed reservation over having the "draconian" capital punishment in this day and age.
Apart from this, the cabinet had no problem with other issues of the policy — zero tolerance, no negotiations with hijackers and trying to ensure that if the hijacked plane is on ground, it will not be allowed to take off.
05/12/08 Saurabh Sinha/Times of India

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Categories: Safety Dec 2008