Union Civil Aviation Minister Jyotiraditya Scindia said on Saturday, January 7, that speedy action will be taken on the man who urinated on a woman passenger in an Air India flight. "Further action will be taken speedily after the completion of the ongoing proceedings," Scindia told reporters, without elaborating further. The incident occurred on a New York-Mumbai flight in November 2022.
Earlier in the day, the Delhi police arrested the accused, Shankar Mishra, from Bengaluru. The arrest comes a day after a lookout notice was issued against him, following which the police sent search parties to Mumbai and Bengaluru in search for Shankar, who has been absconding ever since the issue came to light. As per reports, although Shankar had switched off his phone, the police managed to track him down to Bengaluru as he was using his social media accounts to communicate with his friends.
During the November 26 flight, an inebriated Shankar, who was seated in the row ahead of the woman on the flight, walked towards her and urinated on her, soiling her clothes, shoes, and bag containing documents including her passport. Following the woman’s complaint, 34-year-old Shankar was booked by the Delhi police under Sections 294 (obscene act in any public place), 354 (assault or criminal force to woman with intent to outrage her modesty), 509 (word, gesture or act intended to insult the modesty of a woman) and 510 (misconduct in public by a drunken person) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC).
Shankar, who was the Vice President of the India chapter of Wells Fargo, was sacked from his job after the incident came to light. Air India had also imposed a 30-day travel ban on Shankar and set up an internal inquiry committee to look into the alleged lapses by the crew members.