Air India urination case: Victim approaches SC for zero-tolerance coverage over unruly fliers

By ANI

NEW DELHI: A 72-year-old girl, who was urinated upon in a New York-Delhi Air India flight final November by an allegedly inebriated passenger, has approached the Supreme Court for a route to DGCA and all airways to border obligatory Standard of Procedure and 0 tolerance guidelines to cope with unruly passengers.

Hema Rajaraman sought route for Directorate General Civil Aviation to incorporate within the CAR (civial aviation necessities) an specific zero-tolerance coverage regarding “unruly/disruptive behaviour”, which might mandate reporting to it and to regulation enforcement, failing which motion can be taken towards the airways in all circumstances.

“Direct the Respondent No.2 (DGCA) that the Civil Aviation Requirements (CAR) dated May 2017 of the DGCA should consider “drunkenness” or “inebriation” on its own to be considered unruly/disruptive behaviour on an aircraft,” the plea stated.

Ministry of Civil Aviation and DGCA should solicit the SoPs and the Operations Manuals as required beneath the regulation from the airline corporations laying down procedures for dealing with unruly/ disruptive behaviour in airports and on plane, and to make sure that the identical is in compliance with the DGCA norms, the plea added.

ALSO READ | Drunk pupil urinates on co-passenger onboard flight

Accused Shankar Mishra was arrested from Bengaluru on January 6 for the incident of November 26, 2022, for urinating on a lady within the enterprise class of the flight. The accused was granted bail later.

The plea stated that the truth is, the cabin crew “facilitated” the handing over of her cell phone quantity to the person to ensure that him to “reimburse the cost of shoes, dry-cleaning, etc”. She was made to take a seat on the “very same seat that was wet and smelled of urine”, she added.

The plea stated that her struggling was compounded when the crew “coerced her to enter into a settlement with the passenger who urinated on her”. “She continues to deal with the trauma of the incident,” she stated.

The plea sought route from the Ministry and DGCA to “set guidelines on alcohol policy on international flights of Indian carriers to protect passengers and airline staff, including setting limits on the quantity of alcohol served, without any discrimination based on the class of travel.”

“Direct DGCA to amend its Passenger Charter to include the rights and recourse for passengers subject to any sort of abuse by staff passengers, which should include redressal mechanisms for victims via an Ombudsman and also parameters of compensation,” added the plea.

ALSO READ | Off-duty TTE arrested for urinating on girl passenger on prepare, sacked by railways

The petition referred to the statistics tabled within the Rajya Sabha on February 6, which present that solely 63 unruly passengers had been placed on the ‘No Fly’ lists. There can be quite a few extra incidents with no motion taken, stated the plea, including, “With the world’s third highest air traffic, and with 132 airports, India needs to ensure that its passengers, both domestic and foreign can travel with a minimum of safety and security. Particularly with 150 million senior citizens forming a sizeable vulnerable group, positive steps must be taken to make flying safe.”

The plea additionally highlighted how media experiences on the incident regarding her had been “full of conjectures and surmises”. She requested the courtroom to contemplate how media experiences primarily based on conjectures might have an effect on sub-judice circumstances within the absence of clear pointers.

READ MORE | Air India urination incident: Drunk man not in senses however buck stops with pilot, says co-passenger

NEW DELHI: A 72-year-old girl, who was urinated upon in a New York-Delhi Air India flight final November by an allegedly inebriated passenger, has approached the Supreme Court for a route to DGCA and all airways to border obligatory Standard of Procedure and 0 tolerance guidelines to cope with unruly passengers.

Hema Rajaraman sought route for Directorate General Civil Aviation to incorporate within the CAR (civial aviation necessities) an specific zero-tolerance coverage regarding “unruly/disruptive behaviour”, which might mandate reporting to it and to regulation enforcement, failing which motion can be taken towards the airways in all circumstances.

“Direct the Respondent No.2 (DGCA) that the Civil Aviation Requirements (CAR) dated May 2017 of the DGCA should consider “drunkenness” or “inebriation” on its own to be considered unruly/disruptive behaviour on an aircraft,” the plea stated.googletag.cmd.push(operate() googletag.show(‘div-gpt-ad-8052921-2’); );

Ministry of Civil Aviation and DGCA should solicit the SoPs and the Operations Manuals as required beneath the regulation from the airline corporations laying down procedures for dealing with unruly/ disruptive behaviour in airports and on plane, and to make sure that the identical is in compliance with the DGCA norms, the plea added.

ALSO READ | Drunk pupil urinates on co-passenger onboard flight

Accused Shankar Mishra was arrested from Bengaluru on January 6 for the incident of November 26, 2022, for urinating on a lady within the enterprise class of the flight. The accused was granted bail later.

The plea stated that the truth is, the cabin crew “facilitated” the handing over of her cell phone quantity to the person to ensure that him to “reimburse the cost of shoes, dry-cleaning, etc”. She was made to take a seat on the “very same seat that was wet and smelled of urine”, she added.

The plea stated that her struggling was compounded when the crew “coerced her to enter into a settlement with the passenger who urinated on her”. “She continues to deal with the trauma of the incident,” she stated.

The plea sought route from the Ministry and DGCA to “set guidelines on alcohol policy on international flights of Indian carriers to protect passengers and airline staff, including setting limits on the quantity of alcohol served, without any discrimination based on the class of travel.”

“Direct DGCA to amend its Passenger Charter to include the rights and recourse for passengers subject to any sort of abuse by staff passengers, which should include redressal mechanisms for victims via an Ombudsman and also parameters of compensation,” added the plea.

ALSO READ | Off-duty TTE arrested for urinating on girl passenger on prepare, sacked by railways

The petition referred to the statistics tabled within the Rajya Sabha on February 6, which present that solely 63 unruly passengers had been placed on the ‘No Fly’ lists. There can be quite a few extra incidents with no motion taken, stated the plea, including, “With the world’s third highest air traffic, and with 132 airports, India needs to ensure that its passengers, both domestic and foreign can travel with a minimum of safety and security. Particularly with 150 million senior citizens forming a sizeable vulnerable group, positive steps must be taken to make flying safe.”

The plea additionally highlighted how media experiences on the incident regarding her had been “full of conjectures and surmises”. She requested the courtroom to contemplate how media experiences primarily based on conjectures might have an effect on sub-judice circumstances within the absence of clear pointers.

READ MORE | Air India urination incident: Drunk man not in senses however buck stops with pilot, says co-passenger