The government will introduce a bill seeking stringent punishment, including death penalty, for hijackers. The bill will be moved in the Rajya Sabha this week.
The Union Cabinet on December 2 approved the new legislation strengthening an earlier bill introduced in the Rajya Sabha in 2010.
Sources said the government would now withdraw the Anti-Hijacking Amendment Bill, 2010, and introduce the new bill. The current law, the Anti-Hijacking Act, 1982, was last amended in 1994.
The Business Advisory Committee of the Rajya Sabha is learnt to have allotted two hours for the discussion of the bill.
After the hijacking of Indian Airlines Flight IC-814 in December 1999, it was felt necessary for awarding death penalty to perpetrators of the act of hijacking. The incident of 9/11, where aircraft were used as weapons, also created the need to further amend the existing Act.
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