After a drunk passenger allegedly urinated on a female co-passenger on an Air India flight last year, the crew brought him to her seat and forced her to negotiate with him, PTI reported on Friday, citing a first information report filed by the Delhi Police.
The incident had taken place on a Air India flight from New York to New Delhi on November 26. But Air India filed a police complaint only on December 28 after the woman wrote a letter to Tata Group Chairperson Natarajan Chandrasekaran.
The FIR registered by the Delhi Police on Wednesday said that the drunk man, identified as Shankar Mishra, walked to the woman’s seat in the business class section, unzipped his pants and urinated on her. He kept standing there until the person sitting next to the woman told him to go back, at which point he “staggered back to his seat”, the FIR added.
“I immediately got up to notify the stewardess of what had happened,” the woman said. “My clothes, shoes and bag were soaked in urine. The bag contained my passport, travel documents and currency. The flight staff refused to touch them, sprayed my bag and shoes with disinfectant, and took me to the bathroom and gave me a set of airline pyjamas and socks.”
The airline staff later told her that no seats were available but another passenger said there were. After standing for 20 minutes, the woman was offered a seat used by the staff, where she sat for about two hours. When she refused to return to her seat, she was offered the steward’s seat for the rest of the journey, the FIR stated.
Afterwards, the flight staff informed the woman that Mishra wanted to apologise to her. The woman told them that she did not want to see him and demanded that he be arrested on arrival.
“However, the crew brought the offender before me against my wishes and we were made to sit opposite each other in the crew seats,” the FIR stated. “I was stunned when he started crying and profusely apologising to me, begging me not to lodge a complaint against him because he is a family man and did not want his wife and child to be affected by this incident.”
This, the FIR said, left the woman “further disoriented” as she had been made to confront and negotiate with the man.
The woman in her letter to Chandrasekaran had accused the crew of being “deeply unprofessional” while dealing with a “very traumatic situation”.
On Thursday, the Directorate General of Civil Aviation, India’s air safety watchdog, had said at first glance it appeared that Air India had not complied with provisions related to the handling of an unruly passenger on board. “The conduct of the concerned airline appears to be unprofessional and has led to a systemic failure,” it added.
A lookout circular has been issued against Mishra to prevent him from fleeing the country, the police said.
Meanwhile, United States-based financial services company Wells Fargo said on Friday that it has sacked Mishra, reported PTI.
The company said it holds its employees to the highest standards of professional and personal behaviour and find the allegations “deeply disturbing”.
Limited-time offer: Big stories, small price. Keep independent media alive. Become a Scroll member today!
Our journalism is for everyone. But you can get special privileges by buying an annual Scroll Membership. Sign up today!