Robert Vadra and Dalai Lama may lose their no-frisking privilege at Indian airports

NEW DELHI: The Gandhi family, Robert Vadra and the Dalai Lama may lose their no-frisking privilege at Indian airports, with the Ministry of Civil Aviation moving to prune the list of people who have been exempted from pre-boarding security checks.

“We have sought the views of the home ministry on removing no-frisking facilities for some categories of people that include Special Protection Group protectees, Robert Vadra and the Dalai Lama from the list. We have asked them to do a threat perception check of these categories of people and sought their views on their removal from the list,” a senior civil aviation ministry official said, asking not to be identified. The proposal was sent to the joint secretary in charge of internal affairs in the Ministry of Home Affairs last week.

The official said there are 33 categories of people exempted from frisking at airports. The move to trim the list may affect some foreigners.

“We have also sent another list to the external affairs ministry, where we are seeking a reduction in categories of foreign dignitaries in India and foreign visiting dignitaries. The external affairs ministry needs to suggest how to bring down the categories of foreign dignitaries exempted since they are involved in bilaterals with other countries in this regard,” said the official.

Analysts welcomed the move, saying security agencies had made a mockery of the exemptions by including several people.

“The International Civil Aviation Organisation norms permit only heads of states exemption from being frisked. We have made a mockery of it in India and it needs to be pruned,” said safety analyst Mohan Ranganathan, a former member of the safety committee of the Directorate General of Civil Aviation.

Union Civil Aviation Minister Ashok Gajapathi Raju Pusapati, at his first press conference, had announced that the frisking exemption for Vadra, the son-in-law of Congress Party President Sonia Gandhi, would be reviewed. Following that, Vadra’s wife Priyanka Gandhi wrote to the SPG asking for withdrawal of security check exemptions at airports for her and her family.