NEW DELHI: Air India peeing incident accused Shankar Mishra on Wednesday moved the Delhi high court seeking a committee to hear his appeal against the four-month ban on him from flying and also tagged him an ‘unruly passenger’.
Following his plea, the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) informed the court that it will constitute an appellate panel within a week to look into the matter. Mishra’s lawyer was seeking the forming of a committee under the Civil Aviation Requirements (CAR) for unruly passengers to hear his client’s appeal.
After hearing the submissions, Justice Prathiba M Singh listed the matter for further hearing on March 23. The plea contended that the ban order suffers from ‘factual and legal infirmities’ and completely misunderstands the physical layout of the aircraft and premises.
Mishra, who was arrested by the Delhi Police from Bengaluru on January 7 for allegedly urinating on a 70-year-old woman while in a drunken state on a flight last November, was granted bail on January 31 by Delhi’s Patiala House Court.
On January 19, Air India imposed a four-month flying ban on the accused. “The independent three-member Internal Committee under the Chairmanship of the former District Judge has concluded that Shankar Mishra is covered under the definition of ‘unruly passenger’ and is banned from flying for a period of 4 months as per the relevant provisions of the Civil Aviation Requirements (CAR),” an Air India spokesperson had said in a statement.
On January 13, in a u-turn in the case, Mishra had told a Delhi court that he did not urinate on the co-passenger woman onboard the Air India flight and she urinated on herself, a contradiction to his earlier statement in which he told the court that he is not running away from the alleged act which was ‘obscene.’
Earlier during the arguments, Mishra’s counsel had argued that his client’s act was not driven by sexual desire nor aimed at outraging the complainant’s mpeeg-gateodesty.
Says he is not an ‘unruly passenger’
Shankar Mishra’s lawyer was seeking the forming of a committee under the Civil Aviation Requirements for unruly passengers to hear his client’s appeal. After hearing the submissions, Justice Prathiba M Singh listed the matter for further hearing on March 23.