Hoax bomb threats should be considered serious crime

Security drill at Mumbai airport on Thursday

It has been raining threats over the past few days. Airlines in India are battling huge problems as threats are being made stating that bombs are placed on particular flights.

While most of these threats have proved to be hoaxes, there has been a cascading effect. Delayed flights have given rise to a domino situation, harassed passengers and frustrated crew, entire schedules upended. There is rage, despondency, uncertainty simmering at airports. In a nutshell, the diversion of flights and delays have led to absolute chaos and that is an understatement. As many as 19 flights received security threats in the last three days. The threats are being posted on unverified social media accounts.

Now, a 17-year-old school dropout from Chhattisgarh was picked up over a hoax threat. Investigators have also questioned his father. There are claims that the boy wanted to frame one of his friends and created a hoax account to do the same. The government is also considering strict action against hoax threats including putting these people on a no-fly list and other options. Youngsters need to be educated that today in a world, where violence and terror is a very real thing, hoax threats can get you into very serious trouble.

First though it must be stressed that these jokes, revenge pranks or attention-getting tactics can cause tremendous harm to people; youngsters need to be taught empathy, know where to draw the line, make a difference between a funny, harmless prank and a dangerous one and learn to think about repercussions.

In today's instant, quick-click world, there is not enough emphasis on thinking things through or pressing a pause button in your mind before you start clicking. With both awareness, education, empathy and stricter penalties for these not at all funny actions, we should see a drop in hoax threats.