New Delhi,Jan 20: Air India urination incident: India’s aviation watchdog Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) has acted in strict manner on Tata-owned airline, Air India, imposing heavy financial fine and also suspending pilot’s license. The act comes months after Shankar Mishra, accused in the incident, reportedly relieved himself on an elderly female passenger on New York-Delhi flight.
The incident occurred on November 26, 2022, but was reported to DGCA more than a month later. DGCA issued Show Cause notices to the Accountable Manager of M/s Air India, the Director of in-flight Services of M/s Air India, and 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.
After conducting an in-depth investigation over the last few days, DGCA has slapped Rs 30 lakh fine on Air India and also suspended the pilot’s license. The written reply of M/s Air India and the personnel involved were examined. Accordingly, the following enforcement actions have been taken in the instant case.
It was learnt that the accused went for a settlement with the victim and paid money to her. However, the victim reached out to Tata Group chairman N Chandrashekaran over the alleged mistreatment by the Air India crew and pilot.
Further, Air India has imposed a four-month flying ban on Shankar Mishra, who is accused of urinating on a woman co-passenger onboard a flight in November last year. In a shocking turn of events, Mishra has denied ‘peeing’ on the woman and said that she ‘peed’ on herself. His lawyer argued in a Delhi court on Friday that the woman was a Kathak dancer who had a problem of “incontinence” or lack of voluntary control over urination.
