New anti-hijacking Bill is a good step forward
Years before 9/11 redefined our world and etched airline hijackings into our collective conscience, India had faced a slew of such attacks with varying degrees of fatalities, particularly through the turbulent decade of the 1980s and the 1990s. IC814, hijacked in 1999, was thankfully the last of such incidents. But, more than 15 years later, there is still no place for complacency. Though the fires of militancy that once raged across Punjab and Kashmir have been brought under control, India’s neighbourhood still remains one of the most dangerous places in the world, and there is no dearth of extremists, fanatics and anti-socials wanting to wreak havoc on this country and its citizens.
It is against this backdrop that the Anti-Hijacking Bill, 2014, that was passed by the Rajya Sabha on May 4 and the lok Sabha on May 9, must be seen. The Bill may not have garnered much public attention, except perhaps for the reference to Neerja Bhanot, the brave Indian air-hostess who was shot by terrorists while saving the lives of passengers on board the hijacked Pan Am Flight73 on September 5, 1986 — and whose life inspired a recently released Hindi film. However, the importance of the Bill cannot be understated in today’s day and age.
The Bill repeals The Anti-Hijacking Act of 1982, and gives effect to the Convention for the Suppression of Unlawful Seizure of Aircraft, 1970, and its Protocol Supplementary, signed on September 10, 2010, in Beijing, which seeks to regulate the scope of hijacking, exercise of jurisdiction by countries, and extradition in these matters. Importantly, it allows for a wide definition of the term ‘hijacking’, which it describes as “seizing control of an aircraft in service, unlawfully and intentionally, by technological means or by exercising force, coercion, or any other form of intimidation”. Notably, this definition includes the possibility of cyber warfare wherein the hijackers may not physically board the plane but capture it virtually by hacking into its flying systems.
The Bill also covers related offences such as attempting or abetting a hijacking and threatening to commit a hijacking, among others. Importantly, the Bill also provides for stringent punishment for hijackings including the death penalty in case the attack results in the death of a hostage or crew member or security personnel. For all other cases, it prescribes life imprisonment. Another important clause in the Bill is that it labels hijacking and all related offences as extraditable. India can extradite the guilty or accused in such cases to another country’s jurisdiction, without having to worry about whether a hijacking can be presented as a political offence that could complicate the process. This is crucial because hijackings in the Indian context have commonly been carried out by foreigners. However, the Bill has a few flaws. It has no provisions for compensation that should be paid to victims of hijacking. It is also silent on negotiating with terrorists in the case of hijackings.