New Delhi: Aviation regulator DGCA on Sunday issued a clarification and said that passengers are allowed to take photos and videos inside flights but cannot use any recording equipment that creates chaos, disrupts flight operations, violates safety norms or is banned by the crew members. The statement comes in response to an incident on an Indigo Chandigarh-Mumbai flight on September 9 where several mediapersons surrounded actor Kangana Ranaut violating social distancing protocols. Reporters and cameramen were seen jostling and bunching up to get a comment from Ranaut, who was sitting in one of the front rows of the plane. The regulator had earlier said that a scheduled flight will be suspended for a period of two weeks if anyone is found taking photographs inside the plane. As per Rule 13 of the Aircraft Rules 1937, no person is allowed to take any photographs inside a flight except when permission is granted by the DGCA or the Civil Aviation Ministry. Later today, it “clarified that a bona fide passenger travelling in an aircraft engaged in scheduled air transport services may do still and video photography from inside such an aircraft while in flight; take-off and landing” as per its circular dated December 9, 2004. “However, this permission does not include use of any recording equipment which imperils or compromises air safety; violates prevalent norms; creates chaos or disruption during operation of a flight or expressly prohibited by the crew,” the order noted. Action may be initiated against those persons found in violation of the above guidelines, the order added. The DGCA rules also state that an airline can put an “unruly passenger” on its “no-fly list” for a certain period of time after an internal enquiry. Kangana was headed to Mumbai where a team of the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) had demolished the alterations allegedly made without the civic body’s approval at Ranaut’s bungalow in Pali Hill in Mumbai. The Shiv Sena, which heads the alliance government in the state, and Ranaut had engaged in a war of words after she likened Mumbai to Pakistan-occupied Kashmir (PoK) and said she feared Mumbai police more than the alleged movie mafia.
With PTI inputs
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