The Supreme Court of India on Tuesday called for innovative solutions to deal with unruly passengers on flights, urging authorities to consider modifying existing guidelines to align with international norms.
The court’s comments came during the hearing of a plea filed by a 72-year-old woman, who was allegedly urinated on by a fellow passenger aboard an Air India flight in 2022.
The bench, comprising Justice BR Gavai and Justice KV Viswanathan, remarked that “something creative will have to be done,” suggesting strategies like ‘strategic seating’ to address such incidents in the future.
The case, known as Hema Rajaraman v Union of India and Ors, relates to the woman’s experience during an international flight in November 2022, where a drunken passenger urinated on her.
Justice Viswanathan also shared a personal experience during a flight, recalling an incident with two intoxicated passengers. One locked himself in the toilet and fell asleep, while the other struggled with a vomit bag.
Notably, the all-women crew didn’t open the toilet door, and a fellow passenger had to intervene.
Court while adjourning the matter for 8 weeks, directed Additional Solicitor General Aishwarya Bhati to instruct the concerned authorities to review and amend the guidelines for handling unruly passengers.
This is in response to the plea filed by the 72-year-old woman, who had previously requested regulations to address passenger misconduct on aircraft. The issue gained media attention after the woman’s letter to the Tata Group’s Chairperson was made public.
The passenger involved in the incident, Shankar Mishra, was arrested by the Delhi Police in Bengaluru, and his employer, Wells Fargo, dismissed him after the allegations came to light.
In March last year, the Delhi High Court instructed the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) to form an appellate committee to address Mishra’s appeal against being designated as an “unruly passenger” and banned from flying for four months.
