Air India fined Rs 30 lakh for urination incident, pilot suspended for 3 months

1 year ago 54

Air India has been fined Rs 30 lakh for the urination incident. The pilot-in-command has been suspended for three months.

New Delhi,UPDATED: Jan 20, 2023 14:06 IST

An Air India Airbus A320neo plane | Reuters

By India Today Web Desk: The Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) has fined Air India airline Rs 30 lakh for an urination incident that took place on a Paris-New Delhi flight late last year. The aviation regulator has also suspended the licence of the flight's pilot-in-command for a period of three months and has fined Air India's director of in-flight service Rs 3 lakh.

The case is from November 26, 2022 when a man -- Shankar Mishra -- allegedly urinated on a woman in the flight's business class. Mishra was allegedly drunk at the time of the incident. Shankar Mishra is currently under arrest.

The following actions have been taken by the DGCA in this case:

1. A financial penalty of Rs. 30,00,000 has been imposed on Air India for violation of applicable DGCA Civil Aviation Requirements.

2. License Suspension of Pilot-In-Command of the said flight for a period of three months (03 months) for failing to discharge his duties as per Rule 141 of the Aircraft Rules, 1937 and applicable DGCA Civil Aviation Requirements.

3. A financial penalty of Rs. 3,00,000 has been imposed on Director-in-flight services of Air India for failing to discharge her duties as per applicable DGCA Civil Aviation Requirements.

Here's what has happened so far:

An Air India passenger, Shankar Mishra, while in an inebriated state, allegedly urinated on his co-passenger, a senior citizen in her seventies, in business class on an Air India flight from New York to New Delhi on November 26. As per the woman's complaint, Mishra continued standing at the elderly person's seat while his body parts were exposed. He was asked to leave by another passenger.
A case was registered against Mishra under Indian Penal Code sections 294 (obscene act in public place), 354 (assault or criminal force to woman with intent to outrage her modesty), 509 (word, gesture or act intended to insult the modesty of a woman) and 510 (misconduct in public by a drunken person) as well as under Aircraft Rules.
Mishra was nabbed from Bengaluru on January 7 after evading arrest for days. In his first statement, Mishra had said that he paid compensation to the woman and the matter was settled. Later, during a court hearing, Mishra's lawyer alleged that the woman had urinated on herself.
Mishra's lawyer claimed that the elderly woman urinated on herself owing to her health conditions. His advocate told the court that the woman had been a Bharatnatyam dancer for over 30 years and it was normal for them to have urinary incontinence.
“I'm not the accused. There must be someone else. It seems she herself urinated. She was suffering from some disease, which several 'Bharatanatyam dancers' seem to suffer from. It was not me. The seating system was such that no one could go to her seat,” Mishra told the court. Air India has banned Shankar Mishra, accused of urinating on an elderly woman on a New York-New Delhi flight in November last year, from flying for four months.