1. Short title, extent, application and commencement.––(1) This Act may be called the AntiHijacking Act, 2016.
(2) It extends to the whole of India and, save as otherwise provided in this Act, it applies also to
any offence thereunder committed outside India by any person.
(3) It shall come into force on such date1
as the Central Government may, by notification in the
Official Gazette, appoint.
2. Definitions.–– In this Act, unless the context otherwise requires,––
(a) “Agency” means the National Investigation Agency constituted under section 3 of the
National Investigation Agency Act, 2008 (34 of 2008);
(b) “aircraft” means any aircraft, whether or not registered in India, other than a military
aircraft or an aircraft used in customs or police service;
(c) “aircraft registered in India” means an aircraft which is for the time being registered in
India;
(d) “Convention country” means a country in which the Hague Convention is for the time
being in force;
(e) “Hague Convention” means the Convention for the Suppression of Unlawful Seizure of
Aircraft signed at The Hague on the 16th day of December, 1970 and includes the Protocol
Supplementary to the Convention signed at Beijing on the 10th day of September, 2010;
(f) “hostage” means a passenger or a crew member of an aircraft or any security personnel on
board the aircraft or a ground support staff involved in the maintenance of the aircraft, who is
unlawfully seized or detained without his consent, or with his consent obtained by fraud or duress,
by an individual or by a group of persons, during the transit of an aircraft or when it is stationed at
an airport, with an intention to secure any demand or fulfilment of any condition made by such
individual or such group of persons;
1. 5th July, 2017, vide notification No. G.S.R. 827(E), dated 5th July, 2017, see Gazette of India, Part II, s. 3.
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(g) “military aircraft” means an aircraft of the naval, military, air force or any other armed
forces of any country and includes every aircraft commanded for the time being by a person in
any such force detailed for the purpose;
(h) “notification” means a notification published in the Official Gazette;
(i) “security personnel” means security personnel deployed by the Central Government or
appointed by any agency authorised by that Government to ensure security of civil aviation
against acts of unlawful interference.
Explanation.––for the purposes of this clause “acts of unlawful interference” means acts or
attempted acts to jeopardize the safety of civil aviation and air transport, including––
(i) unlawful seizure of aircraft in flight;
(ii) unlawful seizure of aircraft on the ground;
(iii) hostage-taking on board aircraft or on aerodromes;
(iv) forcible intrusion on board aircraft, at an aerodrome or on the premises on an aeronautical
facility;
(v) introduction on board an aircraft or at an aerodrome, of a weapon, explosive or other
hazardous device, article or substances intended for criminal purposes;
(vi) communication of false information with a view to jeopardize the safety of an aircraft in
flight or on the ground, of passengers, crew, ground personnel or the general public, at an
aerodrome or on the premises of a civil aviation facility.