The Supreme Court on Tuesday directed the Centre and aviation regulator DGCA to frame more comprehensive guidelines to control unruly air passengers.
A bench of Justices B R Gavai and K V Viswanathan was hearing a plea filed by a 73-year-old woman, on whom a male co-passenger allegedly urinated in an inebriated condition on board an Air India flight in November 2022.
The septuagenarian sought directions from the Centre, the DGCA and all the air carriers to frame a standard operating procedure (SOP) to deal with similar incidents.
The bench, hearing the plea, asked Solicitor General Aishwarya Bhati to instruct the authorities concerned to examine and suitably modify the existing guidelines on unruly passengers, in line with international norms.
Interestingly, Justice Viswanathan shared his own experience while travelling with Justice Surya Kant when they encountered a similar incident.
“We had a recent experience. Two passengers were fully drunk. One went to the washroom and slept off. The other one who was outside had a bag to vomit. The crew was all women and for about 30 to 35 minutes no one could open the door. The crew then requested my co-passenger to open the door and take him out to the seat. It was a 2.40 hour-long flight,” Justice Viswanathan said.
The judge remarked something creative needed to be done.
The PIL sought direction from the Centre and the DGCA to ensure that civil aviation requirements norms adhered to the highest standards laid down internationally.
The absence of clear guidelines for media outlets on what requires reporting, whether they ought to make conjectures when matters are sub-judice, and the impact of media coverage based on unverified statements end up impacting the victim as well as the accused, it added.
The petitioner said her intentions were inspired and motivated in the interest of the general public and were a sincere attempt to set up a framework within the airline industry for the prevention of similar incidents and dealing with them in a manner which did not cause additional trauma to the passengers.
The woman sought directions from the DGCA and the airline companies to comply with the legal requirements of the SOPs, operation manuals and reporting protocols to be followed by airline crew and staff.
On January 31, 2023, a Delhi court granted bail to Shankar Mishra, the accused in the case, on a personal bond and a surety.
He was saddled with various conditions, which included not tampering with evidence, influencing witnesses or communicating with them in any manner.
Mishra was also asked not to leave the country without the court’s permission and join the investigation and trial whenever summoned by the investigating officer or the court concerned.
