Air India assault: Accused man arrested and fired after incident on Delhi flight

Following the accusations of the lady traveller, and based on a complaint by Air India, the Delhi Police had on Wednesday filed an FIR on charges of sexual harassment and outraging the modesty of a woman.

India’s civil aviation regulator, the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA), said on Thursday it was investigating an incident wherein the Mumbai-based businessman is alleged to have urinated on a female passenger during a flight from New York to New Delhi in November .

The police also issued a summons to eight crew members of the airline, including the pilot, and had deployed four teams across Bengaluru, Mumbai and Delhi to find Mishra, a resident of Mumbai.

Air India incident

Air India issued a statement saying it could have handled the incident better.

“Air India is deeply concerned about the in-flight instances where customers have suffered due to the condemnable acts of their co-passengers on our aircraft. We regret and are pained about these experiences,” said CEO Campbell Wilson.

“Air India acknowledges that it could have handled these matters better, both in the air and on the ground and is committed to taking action,” he added.

Mishra was booked under Indian Penal Code sections 354 (sexual harassment), 294 (obscene act), 509 (word, gesture or act intended to insult the modesty of a woman), 510 (misconduct in public by a drunken person) and section 23 of Aircraft Rules, 1937.

The incident occurred on a New York-New Delhi flight on November 26 last year. In its police complaint, Air India said the crew elected not to summon police on landing “respecting the perceived wishes of the female passenger”.

The airline banned Mishra from flying on it for 30 days, which triggered an outrage in the country.

Mishra had reportedly apologised for his actions and sent IR15,000 ($182) as compensation and for getting her belongings laundered.

However, the lady’s family returned the money and wrote a letter to N Chandrasekharan, Tata Group Chairman, accusing the cabin crew of showing extreme insensitivity during the whole incident.

Meanwhile, Wells Fargo, the American bank with which Mishra was employed as Vice-President of its operations in India, terminated his contract on Friday.

In a statement, Wells Fargo said: “This individual has been terminated from Wells Fargo. We are cooperating with law enforcement and ask that any additional inquiries be directed to them.”

The Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) issued show-cause notices to Air-India officials and cabin crew of the New York-Delhi flight, calling them out for a “dereliction” of duty.

On Friday, the DGCA issued an advisory to the head of operations of all scheduled airlines, asking them to use “restraining devices” while handling unruly passengers on board.

“Applying restraining devices should be used when all conciliatory approaches have been exhausted,” the DGCA said in a statement.

“In the recent past, DGCA has noticed a few incidents of unruly behavior and inappropriate conduct by the passengers on board the aircraft during flight, wherein it is observed that post holders, pilots and cabin crew members have failed to take appropriate actions.”