Air India Delhi-Vancouver flight takes off after 22 hours delay
Mumbai, Jun 2: Air India's Vancouver flight from Delhi of June 1 finally departed at 3.15 am on Sunday after a delay of nearly 22 hours, a source said.
The flight was scheduled to take off at 5.30 am on Saturday but a "technical" issue forced the airline to reschedule it.
"The Delhi-Vancouver flight of Air India, which was to depart on Saturday morning, finally left at around 3.15 am on Sunday," the source said.
"AI 185...was delayed because of technical issues and subsequently due to crew coming under the mandatory Flight Duty Time Limitations," an Air India spokesperson had said in a statement on Saturday.
This was at least the third time in the last one week that Air India's ultra-long haul flights had to face inordinate delay for one reason or the other.
Earlier, after a delay of more than 30 hours, the airline's Delhi-San Francisco flight, which was originally scheduled to depart at around 1530 hrs on Thursday, took off at 2155 hrs the next day.
However, despite the passengers' plight due to the massive delay, Tata Group-owned Air India did not issue any official statement.
"If there is a privatisation story that has failed it is @airindia @DGCAIndia AI 183 flight has been delayed for over 8 hours , passengers were made to board the plane without air conditioning, and then deplaned after some people fainted in the flight.This is inhuman! @JM_Scindia," Shweta Punj, a journalist had said in a post on X on Thursday night.
Air India, which was earlier under the ownership of the Indian government, was privatised and handed over to Tata Group in January 2022.
On Saturday, the airline apologised and offered a travel voucher of USD 350 each to the passengers of the San Francisco flight for the huge delay, owing to multiple factors including non-functioning of the Boeing 777 aircraft's air-conditioning system.
The previous day, aviation regulator DGCA issued a show cause notice to Air India for some flight delays and failure to take due care of the passengers.
In the show cause notice, the watchdog mentioned the inordinate delay of two international flights -- AI 183 from Delhi to San Francisco on May 30 and AI 179 from Mumbai to San Francisco on May 24.
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Stripped to identify religion, ears cut off: Muslim hawker from Bihar dies a week after lynching
Police deny religious angle in the case
Patna: Mohammed Athar Hussain, a 55-year-old Muslim cloth vendor, tragically died on Friday, a week after sustaining severe injuries in a horrific lynching, reported The Print.
Hussain, who made his living by selling clothes on a bicycle in the rural areas of Nawada for the last decade, is survived by his wife, Shabnam Parveen, and three children.
Before his death at a government hospital, Hussain recorded a video statement.
In the video, which is doing rounds on social media platforms, Hussain alleged that four men initially locked him in a room. They later returned late at night and, stripped him to find out his religion, identifying him as a "miyan ji" (a Muslim). He claimed the assailants then poured petrol on him, branded him with a hot iron rod, and used pliers to cut off his ear.
Furthermore, he stated, "The assault continued as some were beating with sticks, while others were using pliers to cut off my fingers and ear."
Speaking to The Print, his brother, Mohammed Shaqib, described the shock of seeing his elder brother's picture injured, telling that the family had been dealt a blow from which it would never recover.
No mention of lynching in FIR
Meanwhile, quoting Nawada Sadar SDPO Hulas Kumar, The Print reported that while the victim made serious allegations, his wife did not document the specific claim that her husband was stripped to determine his religion in her initial police complaint, dated December 6.
Furthermore, a senior police official in Patna denied this was a religious lynching, instead terming it a case of "mistaken identity" where the deceased was assaulted under suspicion of theft.
Bihar Director General of Police (DGP) Vinay Kumar confirmed that both the murder case against the assailants and a separate theft complaint, filed by one of the accused against Hussain, are being probed to reach a logical conclusion.
The DGP told The Print that while the theft case is being investigated, the focus is clearly more on the lynching case.
Following Hussain's death, Nawada Police upgraded the charges, adding Section 103 of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, which deals with the offense of murder.
According to reports, police have successfully arrested nine people in connection with the assault, including four individuals specifically named in the FIR filed by Hussain’s wife.
One of the nine accused, Sikandar Yadav, is the same man who accused Hussain of theft, claiming that this accusation led to the assault.
The statements given by arrested suspects, including Sree Yadav and Ranjan Kumar, reportedly led police to the remaining five accused.
Further probe in this regard is underway.
