The accused in the Air Indian urination case Shankar Mishra has approached the Delhi High Court seeking constitution of an appellate committee for hearing his appeal on calling him an unruly passenger along with banning him to fly for next 4 months.

The matter in the case was listed before Justice Prathiba M Singh today ,where the Director General of Civil Aviation (DGCA)counsel apprised  that the appellate committee already exists. 

After the DGCA,apprised the court,Justice Singh asked the counsel to place the constitution of the committee before the court within a week. 

The case will be heard next on March 23. 

As per the report,on January 7,Mishra was arrested by the Delhi Police while he was in Bengaluru on on the allegation that he urinated on a 70-year-old woman while in an inebriated condition in November last year on board an Air India flight.

As an immediate consequence gevHe was subsequently removed from his job at Wells Fargo with the company saying that the allegations against him were “deeply disturbing”.

However, Mishra has maintained that the allegations against him are false and baseless. He was released on bail by Delhi’s Patiala House Court on January 31. 

In his plea, filed through advocates Akshat Bajpai, Ishanee Sharma, Shobhit Trehan and Renuka Parmananda, Mishra stated that the complainant woman had registered a complaint against him on Airsewa grievance portal on December 20, 2022. 

In pursuance of the complaint, Air India constituted an internal inquiry committee. On January 18, 2023, the committee issued an order designating him as an ‘unruly passenger’ and banning him from flying for four months.

A Delhi court has granted bail to Shankar Mishra who has been arrested this month for urinating on a fellow passenger(a lady)on an Air India flight in November last year.

The Additional Sessions Judge Harjyot Singh Bhalla  had reserved the order earlier but today pronounced the order.

Shankar Mishra has been directed to pahHe directed that Mishra be released on bail on furnishing a bond of ₹1 lakh.

Mishra was arrested by the Delhi police in Bengaluru on January 6 for having allegedly urinated on a 70-year-old woman while in an inebriated condition.

The incident came public after the lady wrote a letter to the Tata Group chairperson was made public via the media.

In the hearing today, the Public Prosecutor (PP) has disagreed and opposed grant of bail stating the accused had initially absconded and switched off his mobile phones.

The PP also apprised the court that it was only through IMEI number that he was caught.He said that the incident has embarrassed India internationally.

The PP in his typical style said in hindi India ki international beizzati ho gayi hai sir.

The Counsel for Mishra Senior Advocate Ramesh Gupta said that the investigation is complete and crew members and other witnesses have also been questioned.

The Counsel of Mishra also submitted that Initially the bail was rejected as the investigation was pending. Now that is done and they have examined other crew members and witnesses.

Mishra, who earlier worked at Wells Fargo, was made to resign from his job as allegations against him were “deeply disturbing for the reputation of the organisation.

The Lawyer of Mishra had also told the Court that he had paid an agreed compensation amount to the woman on November 28, but that almost a month later on, December 19, the money was returned to him by the woman’s daughter.

The court had refused for sending Mishra to Police custody but remanded him 14 days judicial custody in its last order.

The court said that public pressure is important but it cannot sway the investigation in the case and Mishra’s police custody would not be required.

A local court in Delhi on Friday refused to grant bail to Shankar Mishra, who was arrested earlier this month for allegedly urinating on a 70-year-old fellow passenger on board an Air India flight in November last year.

Additional Sessions Judge Harjyot Singh Bhalla, after noting that the investigating officer was not present for hearing, adjourned the bail petition for hearing on Monday.  

The court also took in view the fact that Advocate Ankur Mahindro, Counsel of the complainant, was not supplied with a copy of the bail petition.

Senior Advocate Ramesh Gupta, appearing for Mishra, opposed the adjournment. He further sought interim bail, stating that the absence of the investigating officer was not a fair reason for adjournment.

Gupta requested the court to list the matter for 2 pm today, so that Mahindro could go through the bail application.
However, the ASJ said he would hear the matter on Monday.

Mishra, former employee of Wells Fargo, is currently in judicial custody after Metropolitan Magistrate Komal Garg denied him bail on January 11.

The accused had allegedly urinated on a 70-year-old co-passenger in the business class of an Air India flight from New York to Delhi on November 26, in an inebriated condition. Delhi Police arrested Mishra from Bengaluru on January 6.

The incident came to light after a letter written by the victim to the Tata Group Chairperson, was made public.

Wells Fargo had recently fired him after noting that allegations against him were “deeply disturbing”.

A statement was also released by Mishra’s lawyers, which claimed that he had paid an agreed compensation amount to the woman on November 28, but the same was returned to him by the woman’s daughter, almost a month later on December 19.

On January 8, the court had refused to send Mishra to police custody, but remanded him to 14 days judicial custody.

The court had observed that the mere fact that there was public pressure should not sway the investigation in the case and that Mishra’s police custody would not be required.

A Delhi court has today reserved its order on the bail plea by Shankar Mishra who was arrested for allegedly having urinated on a fellow passenger in November last on board an Air India flight in November last year while under the influence of alcohol.

Metropolitan Magistrate Komal Garg heard the matter today and reserved her decision. The order is expected to pronounced later today.

The prayer for bail was strongly opposed by both the State as well as the complainant, with the Court being told that Mishra was highly influential and likely to influence the course of the case if he were to be released.

“This is highly probable that he may influence the complainant. He is a person of means and highly influential. The investigation at an initial stage,” the Public Prosecutor told the Court.

The counsel for the complainant told the Court,

“The court has to examine whether bail can be granted to an offender who first said that he did, apologised for it but later recanted … He is saying he was intoxicated. Intoxication can never be a defence. It is not his case that he was given liquor without his knowledge … It was on account of his influence that Air India chose not to register an FIR … My complaint was on 28th. It was only because of his influence that FIR took so many days.”

The complainant was represented by advocates Ankur Mahindro and Rohan Taneja.

Notably, they also told the Court that Mishra’s father has been sending unwarranted WhatsApp messages to the complainant.

“The father of the accused is sending me messages in WhatsApp. He says Karma will hit me and then deletes the message. On the date of arrest he writes this message,” her counsel submitted.

“How did your number get tobhhhj him?” the Court queried.

“That is Air India’s fault. They made me sit across from the offender and at that time my number was exchanged,” the complainant’s counsel replied.

Appearing for Mishra, advocate Manu Sharma, however, refuted these allegations outright.

“These kinds of allegations are baseless that is being made. This is not my father’s number,” Sharma said.

A Delhi court on Saturday remanded a man to 14-day judicial custody for allegedly urinating on a 70-year-old co-passenger woman onboard an Air India flight between New York and Delhi on November 26 last year.

The Delhi Police had moved an application in the court, seeking three-day remand of the accused.

Metropolitan Magistrate Anamika at Patiala House Courts, while observing that public pressure should not sway the investigation in the case, said that police custody of Mishra was not required in the case.

As per the court, physical presence of the accused was not required to interrogate other witnesses. It said even under Section 164 CrPC, Mishra’s statement could be recorded without taking him into police custody. 

Delhi Police had arrested Mishra in Bengaluru on Friday and brought him to Delhi. The incident came to light after the woman wrote a letter to the chairperson of Tata Group and made it available to the media.

Wells Fargo, the company where the accused was working, sacked him on the grounds that allegations against him were deeply disturbing.

Mishra’s lawyers had recently stated that he had paid an agreed compensation amount to the septuagenarian on November 28, but almost a month later on December 19, the money was returned to him by the woman’s daughter.

As per the Public Prosecutor, Mishra did not cooperate with the probe. Appearing for the accused, Advocate Manu Sharma said that only one of the offences invoked against Mishra were non-bailable. He requested the court to see the FIR, stating that only one of the Sections invoked was non-bailable, while the rest were bailable.

The counsel representing the victim said that the crew members of the flight on which the incident happened were also responsible.

Mishra has also filed a bail application. The court issued notice to the Delhi Police on his bail plea and listed the same for hearing on January 11.