The elderly woman, who alleged that a co-passenger had allegedly urinated on her on board a New York-Delhi Air India flight last November, has moved the Supreme Court seeking a direction to the airlines regulator Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) and airlines to frame SOPs to deal with such incidents.
The incident took place on November 26 last year when accused Shankar Mishra had allegedly urinated on the woman in an inebriated state in the business class of the Air India flight. Mishra, who was arrested from Bengaluru on January 6, was granted bail by a Delhi court on January 31 on a personal bond of Rs 1 lakh and a surety of the like amount, along with certain other conditions.
The petitioner said that she was constrained to approach the top court before DGCA and Air India failed to treat her with care and responsibility after the incident.
The 72-year-old sought direction for DGCA to include zero-tolerance policy concerning “unruly/disruptive behaviour”, which would mandate reporting to it and to law enforcement, failing which action would be taken against the airlines in all cases.
“In addition, the wide-ranging national press reportage full of conjecture and surmises has severely undermined the petitioner’s rights as a victim under Article 21 of the Constitution, and in fairness has also affected the rights of the accused as well. Their rights to a free and fair trial have also been substantially affected due to a selective leaking of the ‘AIR SEWA’ complaint of the petitioner, the FIR and selective witness statements being released to the media to match specific narratives,” she said in her plea.
She added in her plea that in the absence of clear guidelines for media outlets on what requires reporting, whether they ought to make conjectures where matters are sub-judice, and the impact of media coverage based on unverified statements end up impacting the victim as well as the accused.
The petitioner further said her intentions were inspired and motivated in the interest of the general public and are a sincere attempt to set up a framework within the airline industry so that such incidents are prevented, and if they do occur, they are dealt with in a manner that does not cause additional trauma to the passengers.
She also sought a direction to the Union Civil Aviation Ministry and the DGCA to ensure that Civil Aviation Requirements (CAR) norms adhere to the highest standards laid down internationally.
In her plea, she said that she was made to sit in the very “same seat that was wet and smelled of urine”, and her suffering was compounded when the crew “coerced her to enter into a settlement with the passenger who urinated on her”.
The petitioner said that she continues to deal with the “trauma” the incident had caused in her life.
The plea sought direction to the Ministry and DGCA to “set guidelines on alcohol policy on international flights of Indian carriers to protect passengers and airline staff, including setting limits on the quantity of alcohol served, without any discrimination based on the class of travel.”