Bobby Kataria gets anticipatory bail, was booked for smoking aboard

Reportedly, social media personality Bobby Kataria was granted anticipatory bail on Thursday in relation to a video showing him smoking aboard a SpiceJet flight that had caused a significant uproar last month.

In response to an FIR filed against him on January 21, 2022, for allegedly smoking on board during his flight from Dubai to Delhi, Spice Jet Ltd. filed an anticipatory bail motion in a Delhi court.

The event had been reported to Delhi Police, who then used Section 3(1)(c) of the Suppression of Unlawful Acts Against the Safety of Civil Aviation Act, 1982, to stop it.

An anticipatory bail application was made before the district and sessions judges of Patiala House Court.

Earlier this month, a Delhi court issued a non-bailable warrant for Kataria.

In August a  video surfaced where Kataria could be seen smoking on a SpiceJet flight. The footage, according to news reports, was from January. A lawsuit was filed against Kataria.

After the airline management filed a complaint, Kataria was detained by the Delhi Police. Jasbir Singh, the manager of SpiceJet, asked the authorities to prosecute Kataria for disobeying safety and security protocols during the flight.

The social media influencer later justified his actions: “The video in which I was seen smoking is not a normal aeroplane, it was a dummy plane, and that was a part of my shooting in Dubai. Taking lighters inside the plane is not allowed.”