No real hijack, pleads Mohla, police say he should not get bail

New Delhi: Delhi Police on Friday opposed the bail plea of Jitender Mohla, the 42-year-old chartered accountant who had allegedly triggered a hijack scare in an Indigo Airlines flight on Sunday. He has been booked under serious charges prescribing a maximum punishment for life because of the crisis situation he had created. The whole country had watched the commotion glued to their TV sets, submitted the police before a city court.
Mohla had moved the court seeking bail on the ground that there was no real hijack situation, it was the “immature and inexperienced” flight crew who implicated him to conceal their lapses.
Responding to the bail application, the prosecution contended before the Additional Chief Metropolitan Magistrate R K Goel that the gravity of the offence could not be overlooked.
“Everyone in the country watched what happened owing to his acts. NSG commandoes had to be rushed to the spot and the door of the aircraft could be opened only after two hours of its landing due to the crisis,” claimed the prosecutor.
Arguing on the charge under the Suppression of Unlawful Acts Against Safety of Civil Aviation Act, 1982 (under which Mohla faces a life term), the prosecution said that the matter could not be termed as a simple incident that happened inside a particular aircraft and that it should be seen in a wider perspective.
The court was also informed that the police had recorded statements of as many as 17 persons, who witnessed the incident.”
The investigation is still at initial stages and hence, the accused should not be granted bail,” said the prosecutor.
Countering the prosecution’s arguments, senior advocate H S Phoolka said that there were no valid grounds to prolong the incarceration of Mohla and that he was not required for investigation purposes anymore.
The counsel also protested the charge under the Aviation Act, contending that the penal provision was meant only for real hijack cases.
07/02/09 Utkarsh Anand/Express India

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Categories: Indigo Airlines Feb 2009, Safety Feb 2009