Air India urination incident | Victim moves Supreme Court seeking clear, zero-tolerance guidelines to deal with such “traumatic” instances

The 72-year-old woman said both Air India and DGCA failed to treat her with “care and responsibility” after the “unruly” passenger “urinated” on her during the flight on November 26, 2022.

A 72-year-old woman on whom a drunk passenger allegedly relieved himself on her, inside a New York-New Delhi Air India flight, has moved the Supreme Court seeking clear and zero tolerance guidelines for civil authorities and airlines to deal with such “traumatic” incidents.

The senior citizen, represented by senior advocate Gopal Sankaranarayanan and advocate Rahul Narayan, said Air India and Director General of Civil Aviation (DGCA), both, failed to treat her with “care and responsibility” after the “unruly” passenger “urinated” on her during the flight on November 26, 2022.

In fact, the woman said the cabin crew “facilitated” the handing over of her mobile phone number to the man in order for him to “reimburse the cost of shoes, dry-cleaning, etc”. The petition said she was made to sit on the “very same seat that was wet and smelled of urine”. Her suffering 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,” the petition said.

Unlike her case, the petitioner pointed out, how an unruly passenger on March 4 was promptly reported by the American Airlines to the Air Traffic Control which altered the CISF and Delhi Police, which took the person into custody as soon as he disembarked.

The petition referred to the statistics tabled in the Rajya Sabha on February 6, which show that only 63 unruly passengers were put in the ‘No Fly’ lists. The petition said there would be numerous more incidents with no action taken.

“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 need to be taken to make flying safe,” the petition said. The plea also highlighted how media reports on the incident concerning her were “full of conjectures and surmises”.

She contended that these reports had “severely undermined her rights as a victim under Article 21, and in fairness, has also affected the rights of the accused as well”. “Right to a free and fair trial was substantially affected due to a selective leaking of the AIR SEWA complaint. FIR and selective witness statements were released to match specific narratives,” the petition said.