Indian national carrier, Air India, has been fined 35,000 euros after a passenger allegedly urinated on a woman mid-flight on November 26 last year on a route between New York and Delhi.
The accused, Shankar Mishra, was detained on January 7 for two weeks for «obscene behavior» under the alleged «influence of alcohol,» at which point the case came to public prominence.
His lawyers have rejected allegations that he was drunk and raised the possibility that it was the 70-year-old woman herself who urinated on him.
On Thursday, the airline banned Mishra, now on probation, from flying on its planes for four months.
In addition to the fine to the airline, the Indian Directorate General of Civil Aviation has suspended the pilot and commander of the flight for three months after a passenger complained that the crew took several hours to seat the woman elsewhere and for allowing the accused to leave the plane as soon as it landed, reports the ‘Times of India’.
The airline apologized for its reaction to an incident that «could have been handled better,» according to a statement released by its CEO, Campbell Wilson.
In an additional statement after receiving the fine, Air India acknowledged «errors in communicating the incident» and the implementation of a specific program to deal with «disruptive passengers».
Source: (EUROPA PRESS)
