Air India midair urination case | Incident was ‘not guided by lust’, Shankar Mishra tells court

The police also informed the court it has filed a revision petition against the denial of the accused's custody

Shankar Mishra, the man accused of urinating on an elderly woman co-passenger on an Air India flight, told a Delhi court on January 11 his act was not driven by sexual desire nor aimed at outraging the complainant's modesty, as he sought bail in the case.

The complainant's counsel opposed Mr. Mishra's bail application, claiming she was being threatened.

“I'm regularly receiving messages, threatening me. Accused's father sent me a message and said 'karma will hit you' and then deleted the message. They're sending me messages and deleting it. This needs to stop... Air India instead of separating the accused and complainant, tried to mediate the crime,” the counsel said.

Metropolitan Magistrate Komal Garg reserved the order on the bail application of Mr. Mishra.

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“Nobody should have to go through something like that. It was revolting. I feel bad for the poor lady. It was appalling… However, was the unzipping aimed at sexual desire? No. Was any of this act aimed at outraging her modesty? No,” the counsel for the accused said, while fervently appealing for bail. 

He added the driving force behind the incident was not “guided by lust. I was not that, man! And the complainant's complaint at the time does not claim that.” Mr. Mishra's counsel referred to his plight after the sordid episode on the flight from New York to New Delhi on November 26 last year.