Air India 'pee gate': 'Unzipping wasn't for sexual desire', accused tells court
Darpan News Desk IANS, 11 Jan, 2023 12:07 PM
New Delhi, Jan 11 (IANS) Shankar Mishra, who is accused of urinating on an elderly female co-passenger in a drunken state on a New York-New Delhi Air India flight in November last year, told a Delhi court on Wednesday through his lawyer that 'unzipping' his pants was not for the purpose of 'sexual desire', and hence he cannot be considered as a 'lustful' man.
"He could not control his drinks, but the unzipping was not for sexual desire. The complainant's case does not put him as a lustful man," the counsel representing Mishra, Manu Sharma, told the court.
He contended that Mishra's actions, while obscene, were not intended to sexually harass the victim.
The Metropolitan Magistrate of Patiala House courts, Komal Garg, who had reserved the verdict earlier, denied Mishra's bail plea on Wednesday, saying that the alleged act of the accused of relieving himself upon the complainant was "utterly disgusting and repulsive" and the act itself is sufficient to outrage the modesty of a woman.
As Mishra had failed to join the investigation even after a notice under Section 41A of the CrPC was served to him, his conduct "does not inspire any confidence", the court observed.
The accused's counsel argued that Mishra did not make any attempt to run away from the inquiry process by Air India, while questioning the need for the issuance of a non-bailable warrant in the case.
On January 7, the court had sent Mishra to 14-day judicial custody.
For the second time on Tuesday morning, the police team took the accused Aftab Ameen Poonawala to the Mehrauli forest area to recover the remains of the body of Shraddha Walker which the accused chopped into 35 pieces. He was first taken to the area on Monday.
The body of a man, appearing to be in his early 30s, was found stuffed in a suitcase outside the railway station in Punjab's Jalandhar city on Tuesday, police said. The police reached the spot and found a red suitcase just outside railway station.
The bench noted that after its last orders in the matter, except two meetings of the Ghaggar Standing Committee, no concrete steps have been taken by the state governments on the recommendations made by the Central Water and Power Research Station (CWPRS), Pune.
Lovingly called Chacha Nehru, Nov 14th is celebrated as Children's Day in India. Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru was born on November 14, 1889 in Allahabad (now known as Prayagraj). Nehru was involved in the freedom movement led by Mahatma Gandhi and went to jail several times.
According to an Amroli police station officer, a police officer had received information that a drug peddler had concealed drugs in a shop and car in a commercial complex basement. Subsquently it carried out searches in shop number 29 and recovered the drug haul as well as Rs 2,68,000 cash.
Aftab Ameen Poonawalla had strangled 26 year-old Shradha on May 18. As per sources, he then chopped her body into 35 pieces and bought a new fridge to store them and threw them at various locations in a period of 18 days. To avoid any suspicion, he used to leave the house with a body part in a polybag at 2 a.m.
