Crew Made A Judgement Call, Says Air India Post Internal Investigation

Tata group-owned Air India has closed its internal investigation on the infamous urination incident on a New York-Delhi flight on November 26, 2022, the aviation company said to ANI. According ANI, Air India was conducting an internal investigation into the actions taken by its crew members and administrative staff supporting AI102 on 26th November 2022, which has now ended. "The crew were approached by the complainant seeking assistance after allegedly being urinated on by a fellow passenger," Air India said to ANI.

The company further said that in the absence of witnesses in the entire event, the crew took the complainant's allegations at its face value and assisted her by providing her with a change of clothes, relocating her to another business-class seat, and cleaning her belongings. Air India afyer its internal investigation said, "He (Shankar Mishra) was co-operative & claiming ignorance of the event, there was no risk to flight safety & that a resolution had been witnessed b/w the parties, crew made a judgement call to record it as (non-reportable) incident rather than (reportable) case of unruliness."

The accused Shankar Mishra was fired from his post as India Vice-President of Wells Fargo. A lookout circular was also issued by the police after the incident came to light and was later arrested in Bengaluru on January 7, 2023. He was also banned from flying for a period of four months with Air India.

Mishra's bail plea was rejected by Delhi's Patiala House court.

Aviation regulator DGCA on January 20, 2023, slapped a fine of Rs 30,00,000 on Air India along with a fine of Rs 300,000 on Air India's director-in-flight for violation of rules. The pilot-in-command's licence was suspended for a period of three months. The penalty imposed on Air India comes after the aviation company responded to DGCA's order and said that they acknowledged gaps in their reporting. Air India further said that they are in strengthening its crews' awareness of and compliance with policies on handling of incidents involving unruly passengers, according to a report in India Today.