Indian authorities have fined Air India airline $37,000 (Real 192,700) for handling the incident in which a top executive at US bank Wells Fargo was accused of drunkenly urinating on a passenger , local media reported this Saturday (21).
The banker, an Indian national, is said to have urinated on a 72yearold woman in business class on a flight from New York to New Delhi on November 26.
India’s General Directorate of Civil Aviation fined Air India 3 million rupees (US$37,000) and fined the airline’s Director of Inflight Services 300,000 rupees (US$3,700).
Authorities also suspended the flight’s pilot’s license for three months for “failing to perform his duty” to ensure safety and discipline.
Shankar Mishra was vice president of operations in Mumbai and was reportedly fired after the case became public.
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Initially, the man was allowed to disembark normally in India, but was arrested weeks later when the case received widespread media attention.
Wells Fargo has fired the banker as vice president for Indian operations after the “deeply disturbing” allegations. Air India has been heavily criticized for its handling of the situation and has had to apologize.
understand the case
- Indian police arrested Shankar Mishra, a former executive at US banking giant Wells Fargo, on January 7 on alleged fraud urinating on an elderly passenger on a flight with Air India.
- After an avalanche of criticism over the handling of the incident, Air India fired four crew members and one pilot and announced an internal investigation.
- Mishra was arrested after days on the run. Although she turned off her cell phone when the story broke in Indian media, she continued to keep in touch with family and friends via social media and used her credit card in the city of Bangalore to track her location.
- The passenger reported that she stayed near the bathroom for about 20 minutes after changing her clothes. “I requested a seat change but was told there were no seats available.”
One of the stewardesses came after 20 minutes and offered me the small seat used by the flight crew where I sat for about an hour. Then I was asked to return to my original dirty place. Even though the staff had put sheets over it, the area was still damp and smelled like urine.”
- She added: “Two hours later I was given a crew seat which I sat in for the rest of the flight about 5 hours.” The woman said when Mishra sobered up he apologized, burst into tears and asked her to not to report.
- Mishra, meanwhile, released a statement through a lawyer, saying he had already reached an agreement with the victim and paid compensation.
With information from AFP and Deutsche Welle.