AI urination case: Accused Shankar Mishra moves Delhi HC against 'unruly passenger' tag
Darpan News Desk IANS, 15 Mar, 2023 11:51 AM
New Delhi, March 15 (IANS) Air passenger Shankar Mishra, who is accused of urinating on an elderly female co-passenger on a New York-Delhi Air India flight, has moved the Delhi High Court seeking constitution of an appellate committee to hear his appeal against his designation as an "unruly passenger" and banning him from flying for four months.
As a single-judge bench of Justice Prathiba M. Singh took up the matter, counsel for the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) stated that the committee is already in place.
The court then asked the DGCA counsel to place the constitution of the appellate committee before the court within a week's time and listed the case for the next hearing on March 23.
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 national capital's Patiala House Court.
Additional Sessions Judge Harjyot Singh Bhalla had granted bail on the bail bond of Rs 1 lakh, holding that what Mishra has allegedly done is disgusting but the court is bound to follow the law.
Mishra has claimed in his plea where the DGCA, Ministry of Civil Aviation and Air India have been made respondents, that on December 20, 2022, the complainant woman filed a complaint against him on the Airsewa grievance portal.
Air India established an internal inquiry committee in response to the accusation. The committee issued an order on January 18, 2023, identifying him as a "unruly passenger" and banning him from flying for four months.
According to the petition, paragraph 8.5 of the Civil Aviation Requirements (CAR) for Handling Unruly Passengers provides that anyone who is unhappy with an inquiry committee's decision may file an appeal before an appellate committee established by the Ministry of Civil Aviation within 60 days of the decision.
"The Petitioner, being aggrieved by the order dated January 18, 2023 on grounds of the aforementioned factual and legal infirmities seeks to prefer an appeal against the said order and has written emails to the DGCA on January 19 and to the Ministry of Civil Aviation on February 20, 27 and March 6. However, no such committee has been constituted as of the date of filing this Writ Petition," the plea stated.
The plea further said that it is an established position of law that a statutory right of appeal is a vested right and the non-constitution of the appellate committee by the Ministry of Civil Aviation is eroding his right to exhaust all his remedies available unto him.
"As such, the Ministry of Civil Aviation's inaction is directly infringing the petitioner's rights under Article 21 of the Constitution," it said.
Cyber Crime Portal from the complainant Baldev Singh (a head Granthi in a Gurudwara in Delhi) was received alleging that he was contacted by a person in name of providing Kirtan opportunity in marriages and other cultural occasions in various cities of United States. Following this offer, the complainant transferred Rs. 1.25 lakh in bank accounts provided by the accused person.
Deputy Inspector General, Anti-Gangster Task Force Gurpreet Singh Bhullar said the team acted on a tip off to locate the kingpin Parminder Singh, alias Pindri, who was handling the operation of Bishnoi gang in the Nangal-Ropar belt. He said 22 first information reports (FIRs), including an attempt to murder, have been registered against the gangster.
The passenger reached at terminal number 3 on August 6. He was intercepted after he had crossed the Green Channel and was approaching towards the exit gate. On thorough checking of his baggage, nothing suspicious was found.
The operation was carried out in all seven border districts of Pathankot, Gurdaspur, Batala, Amritsar, Tarn Taran, Ferozepur and Fazilka. Major focus of this operation was to keep vigil on movement of drones carrying drugs and arms, ammunition, explosives and grenades in the border areas, an official statement said.
The passenger was intending to fly to Dubai by flight IX-141 from T3 on Thursday. Offloaded on the basis of suspicion, the man and his luggage was checked and the US currency recovered from plastic thread roll in his trolley bag.
Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann on Friday laid the foundation stone for the Sant Attar Singh State Institute of Medical Sciences at Mastuana Sahib in Sangrur district to come up over an area of 25 acres with an estimated cost of nearly Rs 345 crore.
