The Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) on January 20 imposed a fine of  Rs 30 lakh on Air India, in connection with the urination incident which took place last year, on November 26.

Apart from this, DGCA also imposed a fine of Rs 3 lakh on the airline’s director of in-flight services and suspended the pilot-in-command for three months.

On DGCA's imposition of the fine on Air India, the Airlines said it acknowledges the gaps in reporting in respect to the incident and that relevant steps are being taken to address the issues.

“We acknowledge gaps in our reporting, and we’re taking steps to address them,” the airline said.

The airline further said they are strengthening crews’ awareness about policies on handling incidents involving unruly passengers.

“Air India is committed to stand by the safety and well-being of our passengers,” it added.

On November 26, in a bizarre incident, a male passenger, Shankar Mishra who was apparently drunk urinated on a senior citizen female passenger onboard an Air India flight AI-102 from New York to Delhi which took off at 12.30 p.m. (Local time). Both of them were travelling in business class.

According to reports, Air India didn't take any action against the unruly male passenger, it didn't report to the CISF or the DGCA and instead allowed the man to walk scot-free when the flight landed in Delhi.

Mishra was however, later arrested in Bengaluru after the Delhi Police formed four teams and deployed them across three cities. 

A few days later, in an odd turn of events, Mr. Mishra's attorneys claimed in court in Delhi that their client never urinated on the complainant. Additionally, they claimed that the woman "self-urinated."

On January 19, Air India issued a four-month flying ban on Mishra and stated that the independent three-member internal committee under the Chairmanship of a former District Judge has concluded that Shankar Mishra is covered under the definition of unruly passenger and is banned from flying for a period of four months as per the relevant provisions of the Civil Aviation Requirements (CAR).

This means he would be banned from all the airlines under the Air India group — Air India, Air India Express, AIX Connect as well as Vistara.

Earlier, the Airlines barred Mishra flying for 30 days due to the internal committee enquiry.

(Source- The Hindu)