Urination incident: Air India bans Shankar Mishra for 4 months

The airline said it has shared a copy of the Internal Committee report with the Director General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) and will also be intimating other airlines operating in the country.

Government sources, however, said the report may not be binding on other airlines but other airlines may also ban Mishra since he has been categorised “unruly” by one airline.

Mishra, a resident of Mumbai, was arrested by Delhi Police from Bengaluru earlier this month. He is in police custody. He has denied in court that he urinated on the woman.

Air India first received the complaint from the woman on November 27 and commenced engaging in correspondence with the affected passenger’s family on November 30. It was made aware of the issue after the complainant wrote a letter to Tata Sons chairperson N Chandrasekharan, alleging that her clothes, shoes and baggage smelt of urine and the crew did little to help her out of the situation.

Air India had then initiated the DGCA-prescribed Internal Committee that was tasked with assessing incidents on December 10. The committee on December 20 put a 30-day interim travel ban – maximum an airline can do before the inquiry is complete – that was to end on January 20.

On the airline’s complaint on December 28, the Delhi Police filed an FIR on January 4 and initiated an inquiry into the matter.