Delhi High Court issues summons to TATA SIA Airlines on minor's plea for Rs 2.5 cr damages

In their suit, the girl's parents said she suffered grave second-degree burns due to the negligence of a female flight attendant.

New Delhi: The Delhi High Court has issued summons to TATA SIA Airlines, which operates Vistara, on a plea by a minor and her parents seeking more than Rs 2.5 crore damages for bodily injuries the child suffered after a hot beverage was allegedly spilled on her by a flight attendant.

Justice Anup Jairam Bhambhani said summons be sent to the defendant, TATA SIA Airlines Ltd, which is a joint venture between Tata Sons and Singapore Airlines, by all permissible modes and it shall file a written statement along with an affidavit of admission or denial of the documents filed by the plaintiffs within 30 days.

"Upon a prima facie conspectus of the matter, let the plaint be registered as a suit. Issue summons in the suit," the court said.

It listed the plea for March 6 for hearing the interim application in which the plaintiffs have sought a direction to the airline to remove the official statement relating to the incident and to restrain it from publishing any defamatory contents against them or concerning the incident.

The girl, aged 10, and her parents have claimed damages of Rs 2.68 crore along with medical expenses incurred by them in Frankfurt, Germany and other consequential reliefs arising from the incident that occurred on August 11, 2023 on the flight from Delhi to Frankfurt which occurred due to the alleged negligence of a member of the crew.

In their suit, the girl's parents said she suffered "grave second-degree burns on her thighs and adjoining areas" due to the negligence of a female flight attendant who seemed to be in a hurry while carrying the hot-chocolate ordered by the child with another extremely hot beverage.

The parents claimed that even after they shared the incident on social media, Vistara instead of taking responsibility for the "negligent and reckless acts of its employees and extending support to the family, issued a statement on the social media platform ‘X’ (formerly known as Twitter) from its official account, confirming the incident but falsely attributing the blame for the incident upon the child".

The parents disputed the airlines' statement that the incident took place due to "the child's playful behaviour" and said it not only caused serious medical injuries to the minor but also resulted in severe mental agony and harassment to the family.

They claimed that the airlines made no attempt to reach out or offer any assistance to the family after the incident.

They said the only time airlines finally reached out to the family was after the mother shared details of the incident on her Twitter account. But even thereafter, no material assistance or help was extended by the airline to the family while they were in Frankfurt they claimed.