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SC slaps Rs. 10 lakh fine on Spicejet for offloading disabled flyer

by IBNS 12 May 2016, 11:27 pm

New Delhi, May 13 (IBNS) The Supreme Court on Thursday directed budget airline Spicejet to pay Rs 10 Lakh as damages to a disabled flyer, who was forcibly offloaded in 2012, reports said.

The apex court said the manner in which the female passenger, a cerebral palsy patient, was de-boarded depicts "total lack of sensitivity".

The top court noted that Jeeja Ghosh was not given "appropriate, fair and caring treatment" which she required with "due sensitivity" and the decision to de-board her was "uncalled for".

Ghosh was offloaded from a SpiceJet flight on February 19, 2012 from Kolkata when she was going to attend a conference in Goa hosted by NGO ADAPT (Able Disable All People Together), the second petitioner in the case. 

The Supreme Court said the decision to offload Ghosh was taken by the airlines without any medical advise or consideration.