Air India Urination case: Delhi High Court directs DGCA to form Appellate Committee in two weeks, hear accused's appeal

The DGCA has been asked to set up an appellate committee within two weeks to hear Air India urination case accused Shankar Mishra's appeal against the airline's internal committee's decision of four-month travel ban.

New Delhi: The Delhi High Court on Thursday directed the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) to constitute an appellate committee within two weeks to hear the appeal of Shankar Mishra, who was accused in the Air India urination case. Mishra had moved a petition against the airline's internal committee's decision to ban him from flying for four months. The single bench of Justice Pratibha M Singh asked the DGCA whether the committee can hold its first meeting on April 20 to hear Mishra's appeal. Also, the court directed petitioner Mishra to appeal before the committee against the airline's order within two weeks.

Thirty four-year-old Shankar Mishra, who was accused of urinating on an elderly Air India co-passenger in November 2022 had pleaded before the court against the airline that had designated him "an unruly passenger" along with imposing the four-month travel ban. Mishra had allegedly urinated in an inebriated condition on a New York-Delhi Air India flight. He was arrested by Delhi police from Bengaluru on January 6. Following which, he claimed that all allegations that were being raised against him were false and baseless. He was also terminated from his job and his employer termed that the allegations were deeply disturbing in nature. Later, on January 31, Mishra was granted bail by the Patiala House Court.

During the hearing, Mishra's lawyer said that the Air India's internal committee had mistakenly assumed that seat 9B was in business class, whereas no such seat exists in the flight's business class. There are only 9A and 9C seats in the flight. The committee may have imagined about that seat and assumed that our client urinated there, the lawyer argued.