IB officer’s arrest in bomb hoax case highlights the absence of a special aviation court in Chhattisgarh

Lodged in a Raipur jail, 44-year-old Animesh Mandal, a Deputy Superintendent of Police-rank officer in the IB, was arrested on November 14 by the Raipur police. Representational file image.

The arrest of an Intelligence Bureau (IB) officer for allegedly raising a false alarm about a bomb on a flight that led to its emergency landing in Raipur in November has spotlighted the lack of a notified special court to hear cases related to civil aviation security in Chhattisgarh. 

Lodged in a Raipur jail, 44-year-old Animesh Mandal, a Deputy Superintendent of Police-rank officer in the IB, was arrested on November 14 by the Raipur police. On that day, he had purportedly shared with the flight crew “information” about “a bomb in the aircraft” on which he was travelling from Nagpur to Kolkata. There were 193 people on board when it was decided to land the aircraft at Raipur, which would have then taken 20 minutes to reach. During the investigation, the police found his claim to be a hoax, Raipur Senior Superintendent of Police Santosh Singh said. 

Mr. Mandal was booked under Section 351(4) (criminal intimidation by an anonymous communication, or having taken precaution to conceal the name or abode of the person from whom the threat comes) of the Bharatiya Nyay Sanhita, 2023, and provisions of the Suppression of Unlawful Acts Against Safety of Civil Aviation Act, 1982.

However, since Raipur does not have a special court to hear cases under the civil aviation Act, a writ petition seeking interim relief before the Bilaspur High Court will be filed on Wednesday, Mr. Mandal’s lawyer Faisal Rizvi said. 

“There is a 2022 Supreme Court ruling that says that all cases under special laws can only be heard. It could take one month for the notification of the court. We will request the court to grant him relief till the special court is set up,” Mr. Rizvi said. 

The senior advocate also claimed that this client merely shared the information he had received on a text message, and had shown the message to the police. “He merely did his duty as an IB officer. He even told the police that he was in the intelligence [service] and showed his identity card and requested them to speak to his superiors in the agency but was denied the same,” Mr. Rizvi said.

The police, however, dismissed these claims. According to Mr. Singh, Mr. Mandal was questioned in the presence of IB officers and after due diligence, the police, as well as colleagues of the accused, concluded that the information was false.