Air India Crew Did Nothing To Pacify Distressed Lady: Co-Passenger On Urination Case

The co-passenger, S Bhattacharjee said that he flagged the accused’s behaviour to the flight attendant and asked “to keep an eye on him.” 

S Bhattacharjee, co-passenger on the Air India flight where a man allegedly urinated on a woman co-passenger,

Source : ANI

New Delhi: A co-passenger on the Air India flight where a man in inebriated state allegedly urinated on a woman co-passenger on a New York-Delhi flight last November said that the airline crew did nothing to pacify the distressed passenger. Speaking with news agency ANI, S Bhattacharjee said that the incident took place after lunch was served. “He (accused) had 4 drinks & then was asking me the same questions multiple times,” Bhattacharjee added. 

He also flagged the accused’s behaviour to the flight attendant and asked “to keep an eye on him”, he said. 

“The lady (victim) was quite decent. Two junior Air hostesses cleaned her up. I went to the senior stewardess and asked them to give her another seat, she said that she can't do that as they had to take permission from the Captain,” he told the news agency. 

“Only option for her was to move to 1st class as business class was full. What they (flight crew) did was clean her seat and kept blankets on the seat smelling of urine,” he said, adding “they could've given Shankar Mishra's seat but they didn't do anything to pacify the distressed passenger.” 

Only option for her was to move to 1st class as business class was full, what they (flight crew) did was clean her seat & kept blankets on seat smelling of urine. They could've given Shankar Mishra's seat but they didn't do anything to pacify distressed passenger: S Bhattacharjee pic.twitter.com/HEEEX9mhRa

— ANI (@ANI) January 8, 2023

“The Pilot-in-command (PIC) must have performed his duty & was resting, so I was told that the victim's seat could be changed only after talking to him. A crime happened, it was their job to report it to the appropriate authorities,” he added.

On Saturday, Delhi Police arrested the 34-year-old accused, Shankar Mishra.

He also said that it was triggering to hear that accused's father claimed that the incident did not happen. "I would not have been this vocal. I waited but when his father said this did not happen, is what triggered me," Bhattacharjee told PTI. 

Bhattacharjee in a handwritten complaint to the airlines had stated that the distressed passenger was made to go back to her soiled seat despite four seats in the First Class being vacant.

He said that his "complaint was that they did not follow a lot of standard operating protocols. When something like this happens, you first contain a distressed passenger." "The whole incident is very sad. The dignity of a senior citizen was played with because of over-intake of alcohol, a young person is in trouble, he has lost his job, his family, everybody else around him is going through a hard time including him,” he said.