NEW DELHI, Sept. 9 (Xinhua) -- India has for the first time issued no-fly rules, which prescribes ban on flying for unruly passengers from a minimum of three months to a lifetime.
The Indian Civil Aviation Ministry, which came out with the country's first-ever "no-fly list" Friday, said the new rules will be applicable to foreign carriers with immediate effect.
In the new rules that have come with checks and balances, unruly behaviour of a flyer has been categorised into three levels -- verbal, physical and life threatening.
While rude gestures, verbal harassment and drunken unruliness will attract a three-month flying ban, physically abusive behaviour like pushing or hitting can lead to a six-month ban.
The last level is for "life threatening behaviour", including assaults and damage to aircraft systems, that carries a ban of minimum two years to a lifetime.
However, the degree of offense will be decided by an independent panel led by a retired judge within one month of an incident, the ministry said.
Civil Aviation Minister Ashok Gajapathi Raju told the media that the rules have been drafted after consultations and "are balanced and should be well-accepted".
The no-fly list by the Civil Aviation Ministry was prompted by two Indian lawmakers of ruling Bharatiya Janata Party's alliance partners resorting to unruly behaviour at different airports this year.
In March, lawmaker of India's regional Shiv Sena party Ravindra Gaikwad attacked a staffer of national carrier Air India for being denied a business-class seat on an all-economy flight.
Three months later, another lawmaker, J.C. Diwakar Reddy, had damaged airport property and verbally abused a staffer of a low-cost airline after he was denied boarding for being late.
