The Patiala House Court on Saturday extended the judicial custody of Shankar Mishra, the man accused of urinating on an elderly female co-passenger in a drunk state on board a New York-New Delhi Air India flight in November last year, by 14 days.
On January 7, the court had sent Mishra to 14-day judicial custody, which was extended till February 4 on Saturday.
Earlier, in the wake of Air India banning Mishra from flying for four months on the basis of its internal committee report, his legal counsel had opposed the findings of the panel, saying that they are ready to file an appeal.
Also read |AI passenger who urinated on a woman co-passenger banned for 4 months
"We respect the authority and mandate of the internal inquiry committee, but we disagree with its findings and are already in the process of challenging this decision in accordance with the Directorate General of Civil Aviation's (DGCA) civil aviation requirements for unruly passengers," Mishra's lawyers had said.
Aviation regulator DGCA had also imposed a fine of Rs 30 lakh on Air India besides suspended the licence of the pilot-in-command for three months in connection with the Air India urination case.
Moreover, the regulator had imposed a penalty of Rs 3 lakh on the director of inflight services of Air India for failing to discharge her duties on November 26, 2022.
The incident of passenger misbehaviour which occurred on the AI-102 flight from New York to New Delhi came to the notice of DGCA on January 4.
After Mishra claimed that the complainant had soiled her own seat, the latter had rubbished the allegation, saying it was "completely false and concocted".
Also read |Jammu-Srinagar National Highway closed for traffic
"The said allegation is also in complete contradiction and a complete volte-face of the statements and the pleaded case of the accused in his bail application," she had said.
The victim had said that her intention has all along been to ensure that institutional changes are made so that no individual has to go through the "horrendous experience" she went through.
"Instead of being remorseful for the utterly disgusting act committed by him, he has adopted a campaign of spreading misinformation and falsities with the intent of further harassing the victim," she had said.
On January 13, Mishra told the court that he is not the accused.
"There must be someone else who peed or it must be her who urinated," he had said.
He also claimed that the woman was suffering from some prostate-related disease.
Air India 'pee-gate': 'Pilot-in-command has been made scapegoat'
Majority of pilots feel that the DGCA action on the pilot-in-command (PIC) of the Air India aircraft, in which a man urinated on a fellow woman passenger on-board, was not necessary.
Noting the fact that the PIC had informed the senior management of the airline about the urination incident on November 26, 2022 soon after it happened, sources claimed that pilots' body - Indian Pilots' Guild may take legal recourse or choose other options following action by the aviation regulator DGCA in which the licence of the PIC of the flight was suspended for three months.
Sources claimed that the action of the regulator on the PIC has not gone down well with most of the pilots and they are mulling on options against this.
A senior pilot claimed that the PIC concerned had acted very maturely and timely in the case.
"The matter was reported to the senior management of the company at that time. We believe that he has been punished unnecessarily in this matter," he added.
Email exchanges have disclosed that Air India's senior management was made aware of the incident two hours after it took place.
As per reports, Air India CEO, Campbell Wilson also received an e-mail from the woman passenger's son-in-law on the same evening, and forwarded the mail to the head of customer care, asking that it be attended to.
The Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) on Friday imposed a fine of Rs 30 lakh on Air India and suspended the license of pilot-in-command for three months in the Air India urination case.
Moreover, the regulator also imposed a penalty of Rs 3 lakh on Director-in-flight services of Air India for failing to discharge duties.
The incident of passenger misbehaviour which occurred on AI-102 flight on November 26, 2022 from New York to New Delhi, came to the notice of DGCA on January 4, 2023 wherein a male passenger conducted himself in a disorderly manner and allegedly relieved himself on a female passenger, said a senior DGCA official.
DGCA had earlier issued showcause notice to Accountable Manager of Air India, director in-flight services of Air India, all the pilots and cabin crew members of that flight as to why enforcement action should not be taken against them for dereliction of their regulatory obligations.
DGCA received the written reply of Air India and the personnel involved and were examined.
Accordingly, enforcement actions have been taken in the instant case.
"Financial penalty of Rs 30,00,000 has been imposed on Air India for violation of applicable DGCA Civil Aviation Requirements. License of Pilot-In-Command of the said flight has been suspended for a period of three months for failing to discharge his duties as per Rule 141 of the Aircraft Rules, 1937 and applicable DGCA Civil Aviation Requirements. And, a financial penalty of Rs 3,00,000 has been imposed on Director-in-flight services of Air India for failing to discharge her duties as per applicable DGCA Civil Aviation Requirements," said the regulator on Friday.
