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Air India crew forced woman to speak to accused co-passenger, says FIR
New Delhi: The crew onboard the Air India New York-Delhi flight on November 26 forced a woman passenger to speak to a fellow flyer who urinated on her while in a drunken stupor against her will, according to the first information report (FIR) in the case, seen by HT on Thursday
New Delhi: The crew onboard the Air India New York-Delhi flight on November 26 forced a woman passenger to speak to a fellow flyer who urinated on her while in a drunken stupor against her will, according to the first information report (FIR) in the case, seen by HT on Thursday.
The perpetrator of the incident, which has brought the airline under scanner for its crew’s conduct, was identified as Mumbai-based Shankar Mishra, who is yet to be detained. Police officials said they have sought a look-out circular for Mishra and dispatched teams to detain him.
“...I was stunned when he (Mishra) started crying and profusely apologising to me, begging me not to lodge a complaint against him because he is a family man and did not want his wife and child to be affected by this incident. In my already distraught state, I was further disoriented by being made to confront and negotiate with the perpetrator of the horrific incident in close quarters,” the FIR quotes the complainant as saying.
The FIR was registered on January 4 following a complaint by AN Kulkarni, general manager-legal of Air India Limited.
The FIR also quoted new details from what the woman said in an email to Air India chairperson N Chandrasekaran calling for action. In her complaint, the woman said she demanded from the airline staff compensation for her, and reimbursement for her shoes and clothes that were soaked in urine. “...but they said they had nothing to do with it and that the man in question should pay her for that and (for) dry cleaning (of) shoes and clothes. They got my phone number, which they later passed on to the offender for payment for my shoes and dry cleaning (I subsequently returned the payment as I did not want to take his money,” the FIR said.
In her complaint, the woman accused the Air India crew of being “deeply unprofessional”, citing multiple failures by them.
“My son-in-law sent a complaint to Air India on November 27 and they agreed to reimburse the ticket --- to date they have issued only a partial refund. However, this is hardly sufficient compensation for my traumatic experience,” the FIR quotes her as saying.
As per the FIR, the woman was in seat number 9A while Mishra was seated at 8C.
HT tried to contact Mishra on the mobile number mentioned in the FIR but the cellphone was found switched off.
A senior police officer, who asked not to be named, said two-three members of the Air India crew have joined investigation and their statements have been recorded. “We have also contacted the victim to record her statement before the magistrate but she said she is not keeping well,” the officer said.
The Delhi Police have constituted a team and were conducting raids to arrest Mishra, who is from Mumbai. “The location of the man has been traced to Bengaluru and teams have been sent to find him. He, however, is a permanent resident of Mumbai,” the officer said.
Mishra, has been booked by Delhi Police under sections relating to obscenity, sexual harassment and drunken misbehaviour.
(With inputs from Hemani Bhandari)
