India's Supreme Court to Rule On Disabled Petition Against Spicejet

India's Supreme Court will be issuing judgment on Jeeja Ghosh's writ petition against budget airline Spicejet on Wednesday.

On February 19, Miss Jeeja Ghosh, director of advocacy and disability studies at the Indian Institute of Cerebral Palsy, boarded a SpiceJet flight to Goa at Kolkata airport. Shortly after boarding the aircraft a flight attendant asked Jeeja to get off the flight. She got in a car and was brought back to the terminal building. 

Airport officials said some airlines require challenged passengers to carry a "fit to fly certificate". "Since she was not carrying one, the airline chose not to have her on the flight," an official said. SpiceJet has since apologized to Jeeja Ghosh. 

However, Miss Ghosh believes an apology is not sufficient. "It is not just about me. This kind of discrimination has been going on for a while. I want the system to change. I want people to know that there are rules which say that an airline cannot forbid a disabled person to travel unless there is a medical condition," she told the Times of India.

Jeeja Ghosh's appeal will be heard by India's Supreme Court on Wednesday. 

The airline was not available for comment. SpiceJet is India's second largest budget airline, operating a fleet of 40 aircraft connecting 31 cities with 240 flights daily.