The Supreme Court on Monday sought replies from the Centre and the Director General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) on a plea by a 72-year-old woman, on whom an inebriated passenger allegedly urinated inside a New York-New Delhi Air India flight last year, demanding strict regulations for civil authorities and airlines to deal with incidents of passenger misconduct.
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A bench headed by Chief Justice of India (CJI) Dhananjaya Y Chandrachud gave the Centre and DGCA six weeks to file their affidavits to bring on record the existing standard operating procedure (SOP) and the latest regulations to deal with such incidents.
The bench, which also included justices PS Narasimha and JB Pardiwala, clarified in its order that the proceedings before the top court were restricted to the protocols to be observed by the aviation regulator and airline companies to deal with similar incidents involving passenger misconduct in future and that they have no bearing on the pending criminal trial against the alleged offender involved in the case.
Senior counsel Gopal Sankaranarayanan and advocate Rahul Narayan appeared for the septuagenarian petitioner while solicitor general Tushar Mehta represented the Centre and DGCA.
The incident was reported aboard the Air India flight from New York to New Delhi on November 26 when an “unruly” passenger, Shankar Mishra, after being served excessive alcohol on the flight, urinated on the victim. Following the incident, the victim filed a complaint with the airline company.
In her petition, the woman said that both Air India and DGCA failed to treat her with “care and responsibility” after the unruly passenger urinated on her during the flight and instead “coerced her to enter into a settlement” with him. The petition claimed she was made to sit on the “very same seat that was wet and smelled of urine”.
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,” said the petition.
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In her plea, she also rued how media reports based on selective leakage of the incident undermined her right to dignity as a victim as well as the offender’s rights as an accused to a free and fair trial. The petition complained against the absence of clear guidelines for media on reportage of the incident where unverified statements became basis for forming “conjectures and surmises” in a matter where trial is pending while demanding that broadcast and media organisations “postpone” reportage of the incident that is pending trial.