New Delhi: Flying drones around specific vital installations such as India Gate, Red Fort, or flying it within 5 kilometres of Vijay Chowk will invite a strict legal action and security agencies can slap sections of Indian Penal Code (IPC) for waging or attempting to wage war, or abetting waging of war, against the Government of India (GOI), depending on the threat.
In the latest standard operating procedures (SOP) regarding flying drones, the Central government has given powers to the local police to book a person under 121 and 121 A apart from other IPC sections, depending on the nature of offence/threat and distance from the prohibited vital installation/area.
Though, officials claimed that IPC sections would be slapped after analysing the threat and it is not mandatory that Section 121 will be slapped in every case. The government has given specific jobs to specific agencies which include Indian Air Force (IAF) to minimise the reaction time in case of any ariel attack.
Delhi: Security tightened near Red Fort, ahead of #IndependenceDay tomorrow. pic.twitter.com/aD6wDjOHkU
— ANI (@ANI) August 14, 2020
“Delhi Police under Section 30 of the Delhi Police Act 1978 will prohibit the flying of such aerial platforms over the area bounded by a circle of 5 kilometres radius from Vijay Chowk, Delhi, and 2 kilometres around strategic vital installations. It will give due publicity to inform the public at large that doing so shall be an offence under the relevant section of IPC such as section 121, 121-A, 287, 336, 337, 338 etc of IPC, depending on the nature of offence/threat and distance from the prohibited vital installation/area. The nature of the threat will be assessed by the Defence Forces,” a government document says while describing the role of Delhi Police.
SOP has also said that drones will be destroyed or confiscated without any liability if found flying in restricted zones. The government has also in the process of purchasing the best anti-drone technology.
The Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) has set up Inter-Ministerial Committee to examine the new technologies, need for their acquisition, the effectiveness of existing systems including BPR&D, NTRO, NSG, IAF etc have been asked to coordinate to buy latest anti-drone technology.
For the Independence Day, armed helicopters have been placed at strategic locations with sharp-shooters and Garuda Commandos to deal with any such attacks. IAF and Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) have been asked to train security staff in visual observation, identification, familiarisation of drones for future preparation.
Similarly, DGCA has been asked to prepare a list of drone owners which will be verified so that in case of any incident, the owner can be identified. It has been seen that Pakistan is using drones to sent arms and ammunition into India.
Punjab Police along with BSF has caught such drones and seized a massive stock of deadly arms and ammunition. In one such case, AK-47 and 80 Kgs of ammunition were dropped from drones by Pakistan.
The issue was raised by Punjab Chief Minister last year since there were multiple such incidents took place.
