NEW DELHI: The man who urinated on a female co-passenger on an Air India flight in November had apologised to the victim and begged her to not lodge a complaint, saying that he was a family man, and did not wish his wife and child to be affected.
On November 26, the drunk male passenger seated in Business Class seat 8A of Air India flight AI 102, walked to the elderly woman’s seat, unzipped his pants and urinated on her. This happened shortly after lunch was served and the lights were switched off, the FIR said. He kept standing there until the person sitting next to the woman told him to go back, at which point he “staggered back to his seat”.
In the FIR registered on Wednesday based on the woman’s complaint to Air India, the woman said that she had informed the flight crew that she did not want to see the man’s face and was “stunned” when the offender was brought before her and then she “started crying and profusely apologising”.
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Even after urinating, the man continued to expose his private parts and only moved when other passengers asked him to leave. The woman’s clothes, shoes, and bag were completely soaked in urine.
“I immediately got up to notify the stewardess of what had happened. My clothes, shoes and bag were soaked in urine. The bag contained my passport, travel documents and currency. The flight staff refused to touch them, sprayed my bag and shoes with disinfectant, and took me to the bathroom and gave me a set of airline pyjamas and socks,” the woman said in the FIR.
When she asked the staff for a change of seat, she was told that no other seats were available. “However, another business class passenger who had witnessed my plight and was advocating for me pointed out that there were seats available in first class,” the victim was quoted as saying in the FIR.
After standing for 20 minutes, the woman was offered a small seat used by airline staff where she sat for about two hours. She was then asked to return to her own seat. When she refused, she was offered the steward’s seat for the rest of the journey, the FIR stated.
Later, the flight staff informed the woman that the offender wanted to apologise to her. In response, she said that she did not wish to interact with him or see his face and wanted him to be arrested on arrival.
“However, the crew brought the offender before me against my wishes and we were made to sit opposite each other in the crew seats,” the woman said, adding that in her “already distraught state”, she was forced “to confront and negotiate with the perpetrator of the horrific incident in close quarters.”
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The woman also accused the crew of being “deeply unprofessional” and said they were not proactive in managing a “very sensitive and traumatic situation”.
She added that her son-in-law sent a complaint to Air India on November 27 and the airline had agreed to reimburse the ticket. However, it has only issued a partial refund that, she said, was “hardly sufficient compensation for my traumatic experience”.
Meanwhile, a police officer said that teams have been sent to Mumbai and Bengaluru.
The office of the accused is situated in Bengaluru and it was found in primary investigation that he was working from home, however, the investigation is underway. Police are trying to nab him. A lookout circular has been issued against the man to prevent him from fleeing the country, police said, adding that efforts were being taken to nab him.
Based on the woman’s complaint, a case was registered under sections 294 (obscene act in public place), 354 (assault or criminal force to woman with intent to outrage her modesty), 509 (word, gesture or act intended to insult the modesty of a woman) and 510 (misconduct in public by a drunken person) of the Indian Penal Code as well as under Aircraft Rules.
The airline on Wednesday said it had imposed a 30-day flying ban on the accused passenger and set up an internal panel to probe whether there were lapses on part of the crew in addressing the situation.
Air India CEO Campbell Wilson, in an internal communication to employees, told airline staff to report any improper behaviour on aircraft to authorities at the earliest even if the matter appeared to have been settled.
