Shankar Mishra was arrested by the Delhi Police based on a complaint by Air India. Image Courtesy PTI
New Delhi: Shankar Mishra, accused of urinating on an elderly woman passenger on an Air India New York-Delhi flight, on Friday rejected the allegations and claimed before a Delhi court that the woman co-passenger had “urinated on herself”.
“The complainant woman’s seat was blocked. It wasn’t possible for him (Mishra) to go there. She urinated on herself. She is a Kathak dancer, 80 per cent of kathak dancers have this issue,” Mishra’s lawyer told the court.
He also alleged that the woman has a “problem of incontinence”.
The lawyer was arguing before a sessions court bench, which was hearing Delhi Police’s revision plea challenging a magisterial court’s order of 7 January denying the custody to Mishra.
The Judge of the Sessions Court, however, stated that it is not impossible to go from one side of the flight to the other.
“Sorry, but I have travelled as well. Anybody from any row can come around and go to any seat,” the judge said, asking for a diagram of the flight seating.
Shankar Mishra in 14-day judicial remand
A team of police officials from India’s capital – Delhi, last week (on 6 January) landed in the southern Indian city Bengaluru from where they arrested Mishra.
He was brought to Delhi and was booked under sections 510 (misconduct in public by a drunken person), 509 (insulting the modesty of a woman), 294 (sings, recites or utters any obscene song, ballad or words, in or near any public place), and 354 (intending to outrage modesty) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC).
Also, a section of the Aircraft Rules Act in a case registered at the IGI Airport police station against Mishra.
He had allegedly urinated on a 70-year-old woman in an inebriated condition in the business class of Air India flight on 26 November last year.
Earlier this month, Mishra was sacked from US financial services firm Wells Fargo, with the company saying: “Wells Fargo holds employees to the highest standards of professional and personal behaviour and we find these allegations deeply disturbing. This individual has been terminated from Wells Fargo.”
What did the complainant say?
The woman, a senior citizen, was too shocked to react. She had written to Tata Group chairman N Chandrasekaran about the incident.
Calling them ‘unprofessional’, Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) on Thursday issued showcause notices to Air India officials, including all the pilots and cabin crew members who operated the New York to Delhi flight on November 26.
On Wednesday, the complainant alleged before a Delhi court that the father of Mishra sent her a message on WhatsApp and later deleted it.
On the same day, the court reserved its orders on the bail application moved by Mishra, who is on a 14-day judicial custody since 7 January.
Police will also be questioning several crew members and others in the case. “Investigation at present on a nascent stage and accused can influence the complainant,” cops said.
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