Union Home Secretary chairs meeting on airport security

Union Home Secretary Ajay Bhalla presided over a high-level conference on Monday to evaluate airport security, during which the Air India flight urinating on a lady, among other logistical and infrastructural concerns, were discussed, according to reports.

The meeting was also attended by the Director General of the Central Industrial Security Force (CISF) and officers from the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) and the Bureau of Civil Aviation Security (BCAS). According to reports, recent episodes of misbehaviour in aeroplanes were also discussed during the almost 30-minute discussion. The meeting began at 11 a.m. in the Ministry of Home Affairs.

The conference was called in response to reports of an Air India flight attendant urinating on a co-passenger while drunk on a journey from New York to Delhi.

Shankar Mishra, of Mumbai, is accused of urinating on an elderly passenger on a trip from New York to Delhi on November 26. In addition to expressing her rage at the man, the elderly woman allegedly accused the Air India crew of being ‘very unprofessional’ in her complaint.

Mishra was later apprehended in Bengaluru by the Delhi Police. The arrest happened just one day after he was fired from his California-based employer, Wells Fargo.

The Air India scandal has sparked uproar on social media. A similar event was reported on another recent Air India aircraft. The Delhi Commission for Women (DCW) sent a notice to the Delhi Police on Friday over alleged harassment and misbehaviour by passengers.