Civil aviation secretary M Nambiar summoned senior officials of the airline who again apologised for the incident which took place at the Delhi airport on April 21, 2009. Continental Airlines has apologised to Kalam for the incident.
The members of Parliament cutting across the partyline sharply reacted to the US Transportation Security Administration’s (TSA) statement that frisking of Kalam was in compliance with American regulatory requirements.
The FIR has been lodged against the country director Laurent Recoura, station manager of Continental Airlines Allen Field, area security manager Cynthia Carlier and security in-charge Jaideep.
The US Transportation Security Administration (TSA), which has supported the airline, made it clear that it couldn’t accept India’s list exempting select VIPs from airport checks.
Set up after the 9/11 terror strikes, the TSA, under the aegis of the Department of Homeland Security, is responsible for security of US transportation systems.
Referring to India’s list which exempts VIPs and their spouses from pre-board screening procedures, the TSA said that “such a list does not mirror US requirements”.
BJP leader Rajiv Pratap Rudy said that frisking of Kalam happened due to the kneel down before US policy of the UPA government. NCP leader Supriya Sule called the incident as sad, and demanded the strict enforcement of protocol guidelines.