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Air India case: Shankar Mishra didn’t urinate on complainant, lawyer tells court
The judge after hearing the submissions of both the parties disposed of the application and allowed the Delhi police to approach the magistrate with a fresh application seeking police remand
Shankar Mishra, who is accused of urinating on a fellow passenger in an Air India flight, told a Delhi court on Friday that the woman had urinated upon herself and he is not guilty.
Advocate Ramesh Gupta, appearing for Mishra in the case, made the revelation in the court during a hearing.
Gupta opposed the application and submitted before court that Mishra could not have urinated on the complainant as it is physically impossible for him to approach the place where the complainant was seated and alleged that the complainant might have urinated herself due to a medical condition.
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Gupta also pointed out that the complainant had stated in the complaint that Mishra was sitting on seat 8A of the flight whereas Mishra was seated at 8C. He further highlighted that the police had not corrected this information in the remand application or the FIR.
The judge after hearing the submissions of both the parties disposed of the application and allowed the Delhi police to approach the magistrate with a fresh application seeking police remand, considering the new submissions raised by the Delhi police.
The court allowed the Delhi police to move a fresh application seeking police custody of Mishra as new submissions were made by the police before court.
The public prosecutor submitted before the court that they are seeking three-day police custody to perform sustained interrogation of the accused.
He further added that the police want to find out whether Mishra had taken any intoxicants before boarding the flight.
The Delhi police had also alleged that they want to find out about those who helped Mishra to go incommunicado as he was arrested from a guest house in Bengaluru where his name was not even registered in the logbook.
The additional sessions judge (ASJ), Harjyot Singh Bhalla, inquired from the Delhi police why were these submissions not raised before the magistrate.
The public prosecutor said the submissions raised before the ASJ are beyond what was argued before the magistrate and further grounds in the police remand application were wide enough to include the submissions.
Mishra is accused of urinating on a fellow passenger on an Air India flight from New York to Delhi on November 26.
An FIR was filed against him in Delhi on January 4 and he was arrested on January 6 from Bengaluru. Mishra was produced before Delhi Court on January 7 where he was sent to 14-day judicial custody.
Mishra had also moved for bail which was denied by Patiala House Court, on January 11, observing that the act itself is sufficient to outrage the modesty of any woman.
