US sacks 2 officials accused of frisking Kalam in flight

Washington, Nov 17: Looks like the US is taking the frisking incident on Former President of India, APJ Abdul Kalam pretty seriously. US authorities have reported to have sacked two officials at the Transport Security Agency for “exceeding their brief" and carrying out the frisking.

Kalam was subjected to the insult and humiliation when he had to remove his jacket and shoes as part of procedure at New York"s JFK airport on Sept 29. This is the second instance where Kalam was frisked.

Both countries are in the process of formulating a common "no-frisk" list to avoid such exigencies in the future. A senior Indian govt official has been quoted as saying, "But the task is proving to be difficult as there are too many VIPs in India."

Kalam, however, did not take the matter too seriously.

The two US officials were sacked following a complaint filed by India that forced authorities to conduct an inquiry into the incident. The investigation found that Kalam was indeed frisked and to add insult to injury, they forced the crew of the Air India plane that Kalam was traveling to open the door to handover Kalam's jacket and shoes to check for explosives. The former President had already boarded the flight by this time.

Though President Kalam is not exempted from screening, as part of usual courtesies he is entitled to an escort and a place for private screening.

OneIndia News