Air India 'Urinating' Incident: Lookout Notice Issued Against Accused; Similar Incident Reported On Paris-Delhi Flight

The Delhi Police on Thursday urged the Bureau of Immigration to issue lookout circular against the man, who had allegedly urinated on his female co-passenger on an Air India flight, to prevent him from leaving the country. 

The police also said multiple teams were sent to Mumbai to nab the man but he was absconding. 

The Delhi Police registered an FIR against the man on Wednesday based on the complaint given by the victim to Air India, they said. 

In the shocking incident, the accused, allegedly in an inebriated condition, had urinated on his co-passenger, a senior citizen in her seventies, in the business class of an Air India New York-Delhi flight on November 26 last year.

The police said the accused, Shankar Mishra, is the vice-president of the India Chapter of an American multinational financial services company headquartered in California. 

"We have written to the authorities in the immigration department to issue lookout circular against the accused to prevent him from leaving the country," a senior police official said.

He added, "Mishra is a resident of Mumbai. We had sent our teams to Mumbai at his known locations but he was absconding. Our teams are trying to trace him".

Holding that Air India's conduct appeared to be "unprofessional", aviation regulator DGCA on Thursday issued notices to the officials and crew of the New York-Delhi flight, asking why action should not be taken against them for "dereliction" of duty while handling the November 26 ''urination'' incident.

Based on the victim's complaint, a case was registered 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.

Air India on Wednesday had said that it has imposed a 30-day flying ban on the accused passenger and set up an internal panel to probe whether there were lapses on part of the crew in addressing the situation.

Drunk man on Paris-Delhi Air India flight urinated on woman's blanket

Ten days after the shocking November 26 incident on a New York-Delhi Air India flight, another episode of a drunk male passenger allegedly urinating on a female passenger's blanket was reported on the Paris-Delhi sector but there was no penal action after he gave a written apology, officials said on Thursday.

This incident happened on December 6 on Air India flight 142 and the pilot of the aircraft reported the matter to the Air Traffic Control (ATC) at the Indira Gandhi International (IGI) Airport, following which the male passenger was apprehended, they said.

 Air India, in a late evening statement, confirmed the incident and said the crew identified and isolated the offender and reported the incident to authorities.

The flight landed around 9:40 AM at Delhi and the airport security was informed that the male passenger was "under the influence of alcohol and he was not following the instructions of the cabin crew and he later peed on a blanket of an onboard lady passenger", airport officials told PTI.

The lady passenger, who had initially made a written complaint, refused to file a police case and hence the passenger was allowed to go by the airport security after he cleared immigration and customs formalities, they added.

"Air India confirms that a passenger on Air India Flight 142 from Paris to Delhi on December 6, 2022 relieved himself on the vacant seat and blanket of a fellow passenger, when the latter was in the lavatory. The crew identified and isolated the offender and reported the incident to authorities," the airline said in its statement.

It also said that "as the victim and the accused reached an understanding", CISF allowed the accused to leave after he tendered a written apology.

"In deference to the victim's wishes, Air India did not lodge a police report," the statement said.

The incident came just over a week after the November 26 episode where a man allegedly urinated on a female co-passenger onboard a New York-Delhi Air India flight.

The Delhi Police has now registered an FIR in the November incident, based on a complaint by the victim to Air India, and has formed several teams to nab the accused.

(With PTI Inputs)