The DGCA previously issued a memo on the occasion to Air India due to its “careless” and “delayed” response to the matter. It questioned why enforcement action should not be taken against the airline and its crew for breaching their regulatory obligations. She had two weeks to submit answers.
Just last week, the DGCA fined Air India £30,000 and fined the head of inflight services £3,000 for an incident in which a male passenger allegedly intoxicated urinated on a woman. In its response, the DGCA also suspended the pilot-in-command’s license for the affected flight for three months.
The 34-year-old man, identified as Shankar Mishra, urinated on April 26, 2022. No immediate action was reportedly taken against the accused despite severely molesting the woman and thereby committing a crime.
The airline imposed a one-month ban on Mishra and later extended it to four months at the suggestion of its internal committee. However, Mishra’s legal team slammed the grounding, stating that they disagree with the committee’s findings and that they are “already in the process of appealing this decision in accordance with the DGCA CAR for Unruly Passengers”.
The 70-year-old passenger had lodged a complaint with air traffic control about the airline’s lack of speed. She stated that while she wanted Mishra to be arrested upon arrival, no such action had been taken against him. Instead, the crew attempted to mediate between her and the perpetrator, and she was forced to sit across from Mishra. Upon learning of the incident, the DGCA slammed Air India for its alleged “unprofessional” behavior in dealing with the female passenger.
As the incident made national headlines, Tata Sons chairman N Chandrasekaran also responded that the airline had not addressed the situation as it should have. “Air India’s response should have been much quicker. We didn’t approach this situation the way it should have been,” he admitted.
