By IANS
New Delhi : India’s cabinet Thursday deferred decision on an amendment to the Anti-Hijacking Act, 1982, which proposes to shoot down a plane intended to be used as a missile by hijackers and death penalty for those plotting such crimes.
The proposal is in response to the growing terror threat within and outside the country and was particularly prompted by the recent expose of a hijack planned by the United Liberation Front of Asom (ULFA), civil aviation ministry officials said.
They said an anti-hijack policy, based on which the amendment has been proposed, had already been cleared in 2005 by the Cabinet Committee on Security, presided over by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh.
Civil Aviation Minister Praful Patel, who was not present at Thursday’s meeting, had brought the issue before the cabinet, which is likely to give its nod to it soon, senior officials at the ministry said.
Minister for Information and Broadcasting Priya Ranjan Dasmunsi who briefed the media on Thursday’s meeting said the proposed amendment would be taken up at the next cabinet meeting, as Patel could not be present Thursday.
Once approved, the amended act would allow shooting down a hostile plane if there is conclusive evidence that it is likely to be used as a missile and hand death penalty to perpetrators of such crimes, against the present life sentence.
The officials said the move was initiated with the aim of reducing the reaction time of security agencies and to extend more in-built powers to them without having to seek permission of superior authorities.
The present policy allows an airborne hijacked plane to be surrounded by fighter aircraft of the Indian Air Force within the Indian airspace, guide the aircraft and force it to land at an Indian airport.
The present government does not want a repeat of the incident in 1999 when an Indian Airlines plane was hijacked to Kandahar in Afghanistan and the government was forced to release three hard-core terrorists in exchange for hostages.
Also, three of those found guilty of abetting the crime were sentenced to life imprisonment. The incumbent government wants to make the provisions more stringent so as to act as a deterrent, the officials said.