The Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) fined Air India Rs 30 lakh on Friday in connection with an incident in November last year in which a passenger named Shankar Mishra allegedly urinated on an elderly female co-passenger.

In addition, the watchdog also suspended the license of the pilot-in-command of the New York-Delhi flight and imposed a 3 lakh fine on Air India’s Director of in-flight services for failing to discharge her duties.

According to PTI, this is the first time the DGCA has penalized an airline for unruly passenger behavior on a flight. An Air India spokesperson said in a statement that the DGCA order has been received and is being studied.

“We respectfully acknowledge the gaps in our reporting and are taking appropriate steps to ensure that they are addressed. “We are also increasing our crews’ awareness of and compliance with policies regarding the handling of incidents involving unruly passengers,” an airline spokesperson told PTI.

The watchdog served show-cause notices on Air India’s Accountable Manager, Director of In-Flight Services, and all of the flight’s pilots and cabin crew members, asking them to explain why enforcement action should not be taken against them for failing to meet their regulatory obligations.

Let’s see some tweets: 

Shankar Mishra has been suspended from Air India for 4 months:

Shankar Mishra was barred from flying for four months by Air India on Thursday. This four-month ban takes effect on January 18 and is in addition to the one-month ban imposed by the airline on December 20.

“The independent three-member Internal Committee, chaired by the former District Judge, has concluded that Shankar Mishra is covered under the definition of ‘unruly passenger,’ and is banned from flying for a period of four months as per the relevant provisions of the Civil Aviation Requirements,” Air India said in a statement.

The airline stated that it has shared a copy of the Internal Committee report with the DGCA and will notify other airlines in the country.