Accused says woman urinated on own seat

New Delhi: After claiming that "unzipping" was not for the purpose of any "sexual desire", Shankar Mishra, accused of urinating on an elderly female co-passenger, while in a drunken state, on a New York-New Delhi flight last November, told the court on Friday that it was the woman who peed on her own seat.

Mishra's claim came after a sessions court issued notice on an application by the Delhi Police requesting his custody.

"I'm not the accused. There must be someone else who peed or it must be her who urinated," he told the court.

He further claimed that the woman was suffering from some prostate-related disease.

Moreover, he said that "the seating system was such that no one could go to her seat".

"Her seat was such that it could only be accessed from behind and in any case, the urine could not reach the seat's front area. Also, the person sitting behind the complainant did not make any such complaint," he said.

On January 11, Mishra's counsel contended that his actions, while obscene, were not intended to sexually harass the victim.

Metropolitan Magistrate, Patiala House courts, Komal Garg, who had reserved the verdict earlier, denied Mishra's bail plea, saying that the alleged act of accused of relieving himself upon the complainant is "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 notice under section 41A CrPC being issued to him, his conduct "does not inspire any confidence", the court had observed. Accused's counsel Manu Sharma had argued that Mishra had not made any attempts to run away from the inquiry process by Air India while questioning the need for the issuance of a non-bailable warrant (NBW) in the case. On January 7, the court sent Mishra to 14 days judicial custody. The court had said: "The egregious conduct of the accused has shocked the civic consciousness and needs to be deprecated." The court had also noted that the accused was voluntarily drunk and had consumed alcohol during the night and the said fact has not been denied by him.

"It has also come on record that accused has tried contacting the victim and the possibility of accused influencing the witnesses cannot be ruled out. Further, as per the report of IO, the other witnesses are yet to be interrogated and the investigation is at a very initial stage," the court had said.

Mishra has been booked under Sections 510 (misconduct in public by a drunken person), 509 (insulting the modesty of a woman), 294 (sings, recites or utters any obscene song, ballad or words, in or near any public place), and 354 (intending to outrage modesty) of the Indian Penal Code as well as a section of the Aircraft Rules Act in a case registered at the IGI Airport police station.