Hours after Shankar Mishra– the man accused of urinating on an elderly woman co-passenger onboard an Air India flight– was arrested, Delhi’s Patiala House Court sent him to 14-day judicial custody on Saturday. Manu Sharma, counsel for the accused, has also moved a bail application. The court issued notice for the next date of hearing on January 11.
Delhi Police arrested Mishra, 34, from Bengaluru after he was traced to that city through technical surveillance. Bengaluru police had assisted Delhi police in arresting Shankar Mishra from Sanjay Nagar area in the city. He has been brought to Delhi and further investigation into the case is underway, police said.
Meanwhile, Air India CEO issued an apology over the handling of the incident and said four cabin crew and a pilot have been de-rostered and the policy of serving alcohol on flights is being reviewed.
Key Updated In The Case
▶️Police had sought his three-day remand, saying he was required to be identified by three cabin crew members and two captains and other co-passengers were also to be examined.
▶️However, a Delhi court sent Mishra to judicial remand for 14 days while rejecting a plea by police for his custody.
Passing the order, Metropolitan Magistrate Anamika noted that Mishra’s custody was not required by police for recording statements of other witnesses, including cabin crew and co-passengers. “Just because there’s public pressure, don’t do this. Go by the law,” the judge said.
▶️Meanwhile, speaking to News18, Mishra’s lawyer Ishanee Sharma said that while the matter is now in court and everything will be decided by trial led by evidence, there always is a different side of a story, adding that “we have been pushing too hard for one side of this entire story”.
The lawyer called the criminal complaint against Mishra by the woman after accepting compensation a “malicious afterthought”.
▶️Union Civil Aviation Minister Jyotiraditya Scindia on Saturday said that speedy action will be taken in the Air India urinating case. “Further action will be taken speedily after the completion of the ongoing proceedings,” Scindia told reporters here without elaborating.
▶️Mishra, who was working with US multinational firm Wells Fargo in India, was sacked on Friday.
▶️Tata Group-owned Air India CEO Campbell Wilson issued a statement saying the airline could have handled the issue better and promised a robust reporting system of unruly behaviour and a system of reporting such incidents.
With questions being raised about the airline not immediately reporting the unruly passenger to law enforcement authorities, he advised staff to report all incidents irrespective of a settlement being reached.
The airline is reviewing “policy on service of alcohol in flight,” Wilson added without elaborating further.
▶️The Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) on Thursday stated that Air India at first glance appeared to have not complied with provisions related to the handling of an unruly passenger onboard.
The DGCA notices came after the airline told the regulator that its staff had not complained about the Mumbai businessman to law enforcement, as the aggrieved lady had “rescinded” an initial request for action after the two “appeared” to have sorted out the issue.
▶️ A Bengaluru police official said Mishra was staying at his sister’s house in Sanjay Nagar, Bengaluru. He had switched off his mobile phone on January 3 and his last location was traced to Bengaluru.
▶️Mishra allegedly urinated on the woman, a senior citizen, in an inebriated condition in the business class of the Air India flight from New York to Delhi on November 26 last year. The Delhi Police registered an FIR against him on January 4 on a complaint given by the woman to Air India.
▶️The case against him was filed under 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) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) as well as under Aircraft Rules.
▶️According to the FIR, the accused begged the woman not to lodge a complaint against him, saying he was a family man and did not wish his wife and child to be affected by the incident. Summons were issued to the staff for Friday but they did not appear before the police, they said. A lookout circular was issued against Mishra to prevent him from fleeing the country.
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