The November 26 incident where a drunk Shankar Mishra urinated on an elderly woman co-passenger and continued to flash his penis on board Air India flight AI-102, which departed New York-JFK airport, is now facing the music for his actions in Delhi's Patiala House Court. Flying in the business class of the Air India flight from New York to Delhi, Mishra's lawyer Manu Sharma told the court on Wednesday that the act of unzipping was not for the sexual desire of Shankar Mishra, news agency ANI reported.
As per a report in the Hindustan Times, the court reserved its order on the bail application of Mishra. Metropolitan magistrate Komal Garg reserved the order on the plea, which said the act was not driven by sexual desire and that it was not aimed at outraging the complainant's modesty. Another magisterial court had sent Mishra to 14-day judicial remand on Saturday, denying police his custody.
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“He couldn't control his drink but the unzipping was not for sexual desire. The complainant's case does not put him as a lustful man. The trial will take time but the man has been sacked from his job after these allegations. He is not at flight risk,” ANI quoted Sharma as saying.
Sharma pressed for bail on grounds that the guidelines for arrest as per the Supreme Court’s ruling in the Arnesh Kumar case were not followed in his client's case. He added Mishra has “clearly and willingly” participated in all inquiries related to the alleged incident in order to prove his innocence. Sharma also said that Mishra will continue to act in this bonafide manner and assist the police in the investigation.
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Bar and Bench reported that the lawyer also highlighted that Mishra had not made attempts to evade the inquiry process initiated by Air India in the matter, hoever he questioned the requirement for the issuance of a non-bailable warrant (NBW) in the case.
“I was to appear on January 6. Is it that they will make up their mind on January 6 that I am evading? On January 4, when the FIR was registered, Air India had already initiated an internal inquiry. I appeared before them. I did not run away. If I was an evader, I would have run away … They went and obtained a NBW against me on January 6. The question is can in the very first instance, a NBW be issued? There are case laws which say that, in the first instance, only a bailable warrant can be issued. Simultaneously I was placed under arrest in Bengaluru,” Bar and Bench quoted Sharma as saying his submission.
Sharma also argued that when an investigation was on, magistrates should not generally get into the arena of aiding the investigation.The Delhi Police challenged the magisterial court's order of January 7 denying the custody of Mishra. The police also challenged the bail plea saying if he enlarged on bail, Mishra can influence the complainant, ANI reported.
Mishra's co-passenger, Dr Bhattacharjee, a US-based doctor of audiology earlier told NDTV that the accused was drinking heavily and was "incoherent" during lunch. "We were served lunch about an hour after take-off and he had downed four drinks in 40 minutes. During lunch he asked me questions like you have kid and what do they do, repeatedly. I figured he can't hold up due to alcohol. I flagged it to the staff, the staff just smiled," Bhattacharjee said. The man was served at least one more drink after Bhattacharjee, seated next to Mishra had flagged the issue to the crew. Sobering up much later, Shankar Mishra had said, "Bro, I think I'm in trouble," Dr Sugata Bhattacharjee told NDTV.
