The complainant has said these violations fall under POSH (prevention of sexual harassment complaint), DGCA rules, the violation of air safety norms and the Air India operations manual.

In January this year, the DGCA penalised the Tata group-owned Air India with ₹40 lakh fine for two separate mid-air peeing incidents. The regulator penalised Air India with ₹30 lakh fine and also imposed a fine of ₹3 lakh on the director of its in-flight services for an incident in which a male passenger in an inebriated condition urinated on a woman. The DGCA also suspended the license of the pilot-in-command of the flight concerned for three months.

The 34-year-old man, identified as Shankar Mishra, urinated on a 70-year-old female co-passenger and her seat in an inebriated condition, in the business class of a New York-Delhi Air India flight on November 26, 2022. Despite causing major harassment to the woman, and thus committing a crime, no immediate action was allegedly taken against the accused.

The airline only imposed a ban of one month on Mishra, and later extended it to four months following the suggestion of its internal committee. Mishra’s legal team, however, slammed the flight ban, stating they disagree with the committee’s findings and that they “are already in the process of appealing this decision in accordance with the DGCA CAR for Unruly Passengers.”

In another incident, the DGCA imposed a financial penalty of ₹10 lakh on Air India for not reporting a similar incident to it, and delaying referring the matter to its Internal Committee, which it said is a violation of applicable DGCA Civil Aviation Requirements. The incident pertained to Air India's December 6 flight (AI-142) from Paris to New Delhi, when a male passenger urinated on the vacant seat of a woman and also on her blanket. Another passenger, who was on the same flight, was also caught smoking in the lavatory.

mid-air peeing incident

Air India pilot allows woman ‘friend’ into cockpit; DGCA launches probe