IndiGo Mumbai-Delhi flight diverted to Ahmedabad after bomb threat; nothing suspicious found
Ahmedabad (PTI): A Delhi-bound IndiGo aircraft from Mumbai was diverted to Ahmedabad after receiving a bomb threat, which later turned out to be a hoax, an official said on Wednesday.
Soon after the flight took-off from Mumbai on Tuesday night, an unidentified person, through a tweet, claimed a bomb had been placed in the aircraft which was carrying nearly 200 passengers and crew, the official from the Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel International Airport here said.
After being alerted by the Mumbai ATC, the pilots decided to make an emergency landing at Ahmedabad airport, which was the closest airport when the flight was en-route to Delhi, said the official.
"After landing here during midnight, the aircraft, carrying nearly 200 passengers and crew, was thoroughly checked by the security agencies overnight. However, nothing suspicious was found. The flight took-off for Delhi at around 8 am today morning after getting a green signal from the security personnel," the official said.
Several flights have received similar hoax bomb threats in the last couple of days.
On Monday, three international flights originating from Mumbai received bomb threats. While a New York-bound Air India flight was diverted to New Delhi and rescheduled, the other two, both operated by IndiGo, were delayed by several hours.
Nothing suspicious was found on any of the planes, police officials had said.
On Tuesday, an Air India plane carrying 211 people from Delhi to Chicago was diverted to an airport in Canada on Tuesday following a bomb threat, according to officials.
Apart from Air India's Delhi-Chicago flight, six other Indian flights on Tuesday received bomb threat messages through a social media handle.
Singapore Armed Forces on Tuesday scrambled two fighter jets to escort an Air India Express plane away from populated areas following a bomb threat before the aircraft landed safely at Singapore's Changi airport.
The Air India Express plane operating flight IX 684 from Madurai to Singapore had received a bomb threat.
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Constitution helped in country's transformation: CJI Khanna
New Delhi (PTI): Chief Justice of India Sanjiv Khanna on Tuesday said India has emerged as a vibrant democracy and a geopolitical leader, and the Constitution of the country has helped in this transformation.
India has had a transformative journey from a nation, which under the aftermath and horrors of partition saw widespread illiteracy, poverty, lack of robust democratic system of checks and balances, to one which has now become a self-assured leader, the CJI said.
"But at the back of it is the Constitution of India, which has helped this transformation. It is today a way of life that has to be lived up to," Justice Khanna said, while speaking at the Constitution Day function organised by the Supreme Court Bar Association (SCBA) at the apex court.
Since 2015, November 26 is observed as Constitution Day to commemorate the adoption of the Constitution of India by the Constituent Assembly in 1949. Earlier, the day was observed as Law Day.
Attorney General R Venkataramani, SCBA president and senior advocate Kapil Sibal also addressed the gathering.
In his address, Justice Khanna highlighted the importance and contribution of the Bar and said, "We often refer to the judiciary as persons in robes, that is, the judges, but judiciary equally represents the Bar".
"I cannot visualise the judiciary where the members of the Bar are not a part and parcel of it. You are as much part of the judiciary as the judges," he said.
The CJI said he was a member of the Bar from 1983 to 2005, when he got elevated as a judge, and his tenure as a member of the Bar is longer than his tenure as a judge.
"Judges come from the Bar and go back to the Bar. We belong to the Bar. The better the Bar, the better the judges," he said.
Justice Khanna said the Supreme Court has had a very strong and good legacy and there are decisions right from environmental law, privacy laws, fundamental rights to the basic structure doctrine.
"Many of these decisions, I do not think would have been possible without the contribution and efforts of the member of the Bar," he said.
Justice Khanna said since he has taken over as the CJI, he has made various attempts to look into the issues and problems faced by Bar members.
He referred to the steps taken, including setting up notice boards outside the courtrooms where physical cause list is shown and improving the Wi-Fi services in the top court.
"I have one request to make and I hope it will be taken in the right spirit. I have been repeatedly getting requests for re-circulation of letters of adjournment. I have looked into the data," Justice Khanna said while pointing out that the data showed there were about 9,000 to 10,000 applications or letters for adjournments being circulated every three months.
"So, it is not going to be possible for us to go back to the earlier system. Whatever system we have now adopted, we can, if you come up with some suggestions for improvements, look into it, but going back to the earlier system may be counter-productive," he said.
The CJI said the apex court received about 1,400 applications in the new system in the last 11 months.
"You can see the difference. From 100 applications a day to about 150 applications a month. That's a huge change and let us, therefore, go with the right spirit," he said.
Justice Khanna said today is the day to introspect, to look into and assess the strong points and weaknesses.
"As the Attorney General has rightly pointed out, it is a day when we look at the scorecard. We don't think the scorecard is blank. We have good scores but there are issues which we have to tackle. And let us unifiedly tackle those issues with the members of the Bar and the judiciary both contributing to this...," he said.
