Delhi Court Grants Bail To Man Accused Of Urinating On Elderly Woman On Air India Flight

Mishra was arrested by Delhi Police on January 6, 2023 from Bengaluru. He allegedly urinated on a 70-year-old woman in an intoxicated state on an Air India flight.

Shankar Mishra is accused of urinating on a woman passesnger on an Air India flight from New York to Delhi

Source : PTI

The Patiala House court in Delhi on Tuesday granted bail to a man accused of urinating on a woman on board an Air India flight from New York to New Delhi in November last year. Additional Sessions Judge Harjyot Singh Bhalla granted the relief to Shankar Mishra on a personal bond of Rs 1 lakh.

Mishra was arrested by the Delhi Police on January 6 from Bengaluru and is presently in judicial custody.

Mishra allegedly urinated on a 70-year-old woman in an intoxicated state in the business class of an Air India flight on November 26 last year.

Delhi Police had registered the FIR against him on January 4 under various sections of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) on a complaint given by the woman to Air India.

Additional Sessions Judge Harjyot Singh Bhalla heard arguments from both sides on Mishra's bail petition on Monday and reserved order for Tuesday.

While hearing the bail petition, the judge said the witnesses named by Delhi Police were not deposing in the prosecution's favour, PTI reported.

"The witness you (Investigation agency) have named are not deposing in your favour...There is a contradiction in the complainant's statement and Ila Benarjee's (witness) statement," the judge noted during the proceedings.

Delhi Police opposed the bail application, saying "India has been defamed internationally because of the incident".

"It may be disgusting but that is another matter, let's not get into that. Let's go into how the law deals with it," the judge said. The prosecution also claimed Mishra did not cooperate in the investigation and that he had switched off all his mobile phones.

Mishra moved the court after the metropolitan magistrate had on January 11 denied him bail, saying the act was utterly disgusting and repulsive, shocked the civic consciousness and needed to be deprecated.

Earlier, Mishra had claimed that the complainant had soiled her own seat. He had further claimed that the woman was suffering from some prostate-related disease.

The woman had rubbished the allegation, saying that it was "completely false and concocted".

(With inputs from agencies)