Life Imprisonment for being drunk

[Major]

An Indian court has sentenced a man to life imprisonment for being drunk and waving a knife about.

Incident: IndiGo A320 at Delhi on Feb 1st 2009, unruly passenger, threat of but no hijack

That seems a pretty severe sentence to me. Yes to some jail time but not that much.

 

[Mal]

Interesting, however the article may not be telling the full story. Were there previous convictions is the obvious missing piece.

It would be interesting to see other reporting on the trial.

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[Simo]

Harsh sentence but I think there is a lot missing from this story.

If there is ever a instance in the air it should have double the penalty than when on the ground.

 

[anat0l]

"Life imprisonment" usually just means being put away for a long time (which seems to mean one's whole / remainder of one's life). Plus, there's always parole possibility, unless otherwise decided at trial.

Harsh punishment? Maybe, but why should it matter? The person will suffer the consequences of their actions. Just like in some other countries, stealing will result in your hands being severed. Perhaps that is harsh too, but then again why would one steal in the first place to risk such a consequence...

Certainly sets a much better example to society than our lackadaisical "justice" (big quote marks there) system we have in this country. Had that man committed the same crime here (assuming guilt on face value account given in OP), he would more than likely be let off, perhaps with a small fine, maybe a temporary flying blacklisting. That would be just sick.

 

[ChrisDPom]

Would he have got a longer sentence if he had been sober and waving the knife around???:shock:

 

[TonyHancock]

I just shudder at this thread title. :shock:

 

[horseman]

Didn't read the article, but drunk, on a plane, waving a knife about, threatening to hijack? Should be shot on the spot no questions asked, IMO. life in jail is a slap on the wrists.

 

[JohnK]

It sounds very severe punishment but we must be missing important information from this story.

 

[mannej]

What parts of the story are missing? A Drunk man threatened to hijack the plane waving a knife whilst doing so.

It may be seen as severe, but we have all seen the consequences of what a hijacking can do.

 

[D747]

How did he get the Knife on board?

 

[anat0l]

How did he get the Knife on board?

So the security at the first airport should probably get a knock on the head too.

In any case, the fact that you were not prevented from committing a crime doesn't give you free right to commit one with impunity.

I guess the thread title is misleading. The man is being incarcerated for (allegedly) wielding the knife and threatening to hijack the plane.

 

[Mal]

Aren't ceremonial knives allowed on Indian planes? Recall some religious reasoning...

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[anat0l]

Aren't ceremonial knives allowed on Indian planes? Recall some religious reasoning...

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It would be unusual, but even so it'd be more unusual if they were allowed to be removed from packaging / sheaths, and much less waved around or "used"....

 

[tuapekastar]

Happy to see a significant punishment but 'life' (whatever that means in this instance) sounds harsh.

I fail to see in the linked story any reference to the man 'wielding' or 'waving' a knife.

 

[Balwyn3103]

Harsh sentence but I think there is a lot missing from this story.

If there is ever a instance in the air it should have double the penalty than when on the ground.

Kind of like the principle that one drink on the ground is twice as inebriating in the air!