Air India 'peeing' incident: Court sends accused Shankar Mishra to 14-day judicial custody

Shankar Mishra, who is accused in the onboard urination case in an Air India flight

Delhi's Patiala House Court on January 7 sent Shankar Mishra, accused of urinating on a woman co-passenger on an Air India flight, to 14 days of judicial custody. The Delhi Police had sought three days of police custody for him.

Mishra had earlier been arrested for allegedly urinating while being drunk on a co-passenger onboard an Air India flight between New York and Delhi on November 26, 2022.

Post the judgement, the accused Mishra's lawyer has moved bail plea, which will be heard on January 11.

Mishra, who has been terminated from his job in American financial services company Wells Fargo, was arrested by Delhi Police from Bengaluru last night. Notably, the Delhi Police has so far recorded the statements of three crew members of Air India today in connection with the case.

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Delhi Police had registered an FIR against him on January 4 on a complaint given by the woman to Air India. The police registered an FIR under sections 354, 509, and 510 of the Indian Penal Code and Section 23 of the Indian Aircraft Act. Both the accused and the victim are from outside Delhi.

Earlier today, Air India had issued show cause notice and de-rostered one pilot and four cabin crew as it investigates the 'peeing' incident in of its business class flights, CEO Campbell Wilson had said.

Wilson, in a statement, also added that the airline could have handled the issue better and promised a robust reporting system of unruly behaviour and a system of reporting such incidents.

"Air India is deeply concerned about the in-flight instances where customers have suffered due to the condemnable acts of their co-passengers on our aircraft. We regret and are pained about these experiences," he said.

Following the incident, the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA)  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.

The aviation regulator also stated that Air India at first glance appeared to have not complied with provisions related to the handling of an unruly passenger onboard.