Air India 'pee gate': 'Unzipping wasn't for sexual desire', accused tells court
Darpan News Desk IANS, 11 Jan, 2023 12:07 PM
New Delhi, Jan 11 (IANS) Shankar Mishra, who is accused of urinating on an elderly female co-passenger in a drunken state on a New York-New Delhi Air India flight in November last year, told a Delhi court on Wednesday through his lawyer that 'unzipping' his pants was not for the purpose of 'sexual desire', and hence he cannot be considered as a 'lustful' man.
"He could not control his drinks, but the unzipping was not for sexual desire. The complainant's case does not put him as a lustful man," the counsel representing Mishra, Manu Sharma, told the court.
He contended that Mishra's actions, while obscene, were not intended to sexually harass the victim.
The Metropolitan Magistrate of Patiala House courts, Komal Garg, who had reserved the verdict earlier, denied Mishra's bail plea on Wednesday, saying that the alleged act of the accused of relieving himself upon the complainant was "utterly disgusting and repulsive" and the act itself is sufficient to outrage the modesty of a woman.
As Mishra had failed to join the investigation even after a notice under Section 41A of the CrPC was served to him, his conduct "does not inspire any confidence", the court observed.
The accused's counsel argued that Mishra did not make any attempt to run away from the inquiry process by Air India, while questioning the need for the issuance of a non-bailable warrant in the case.
On January 7, the court had sent Mishra to 14-day judicial custody.
On January 6, Poonawala moved an application in the court seeking release of his debit and credit cards, citing need for funds to purchase day-to-day items, as well as warm clothes. Shukla had extended his judicial custody for four more days and ordered to physically produce him in the court on January 10.
Next day after all the parcels were counted, they realised that from a total 719 parcels, 667 parcels were intact. The robbers had stolen items from 52 parcels, like laptops, tablets, 259 mobile phones, headphones, wrist watches and print rolls worth Rs one crore.
Assuming the charge of Health and Family Welfare Minister here, Balbir Singh, the legislator from Patiala (Rural) who won the 2022 Assembly election by a whopping margin of over 50,000 votes, told the media that health and education are the areas of core concern of the government.
After welcoming a large gathering of NRIs, who have arrived here from several countries to participate in the Pravasi Bharatiya Divas, PM Modi said that every Indian-origin person living in foreign countries 'is brand ambassador of India'.
Besides heroin, the IGP said the police have recovered 407 kg opium, 407 kg ganja, 233 quintals of poppy husk, and 33.88 lakh tablets, capsules, injections and vials of pharma opioids. The police have also recovered Rs 7.72 crore of drug money from the possession of drug smugglers.
The woman suffered severe burns and has been admitted to RIMS, Ranchi. The FIR has been lodged on the basis of the victim's statement, against the men who are all said to be her relatives and acquaintances.
