The infamous case of a drunk man urinating on an elderly passenger sitting in a business class seat on an Air India flight has shaken the country. The accused, Shankar Mishra, is in judicial custody and currently on trial. His case is being heard by Delhi’s Patiala House court.
According to TOI, Mishra has been booked under sections 510 (misconduct in public by a drunken person), 509 (insulting the modesty of a woman), 294 (sings, recites or utters any obscene song, ballad or words, in or near any public place), and 354 (intending to outrage modesty) of the Indian Penal Code.
However, Shankar Mishra has denied allegations of him urinating on the woman. In a complete U-turn, he claimed that the elderly woman urinated on herself as she is a Kathak dancer and apparently 80% Kathak dancers have a problem of incontinence (loss of bladder control).
Business Today quoted his lawyer arguing, “The complainant’s seat was blocked. It wasn’t possible for him (Mishra) to go there. The woman has a problem of incontinence. She urinated on herself. She is a Kathak dancer, 80% of Kathak dancers have this issue.”
However, the judge immediately refuted the claims made by the accused and said, “It is not impossible to go from one side of the flight to the other. Sorry, but I have travelled as well. Anybody from any row can come around and go to any seat.”
On the other hand, the victim alleged that Shankar Mishra’s father has been intimidating her via texts. According to Deccan Herald, she claimed, “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.”
Metropolitan Magistrate Komal Garg has called the incident “repulsive” and “disgusting”.
“The alleged act in itself is sufficient to outrage the modesty of any woman. Egregious conduct of the accused has shocked the civic consciousness and needs to be deprecated,” he said.
We hope justice is served soon.