BackAir India 'pee-gate case': Co-flyer says victim waited 2 hours for new seat
The distressed passenger was made to go back to her soiled seat even as four seats were vacant in the first class of the Air India flight
PremiumAs the accused in the ‘pee-gate’ case was arrested on Saturday from Bengaluru, a co-passenger of the New York-New Delhi flight has revealed that, after the accused urinated on the old lady, the captain of the flight made the traumatized lady wait for 2 hours before allocating her a fresh seat.
The distressed passenger was made to go back to her soiled seat even as four seats were vacant in the first class of the Air India flight, Sugata Bhattacharjee, a US-based doctor of audiology said in a handwritten complaint to the airline. Bhattacharjee was travelling on the same flight and was seated next to the accused.
Bhattacharjee informed that he was woken up after the accused fell on him. "I initially thought he lost his balance due to a rough flight. However, as I was going to the restroom, I saw my two fellow passengers of 9A and 9C in distress," he said.
The doctor added the lady of 9A came to the gallery area and she was all wet.
"We were shocked to realize that my co-passenger (8C) was so intoxicated that he went to the next row and urinated on her," he wrote.
Two air hostesses helped the lady to clean her up, change clothes, and sanitized her belongings.
"The incidence has a multifaceted part to it. A senior citizen was subjected to trauma due to the indecency of a passenger. She is a female who had no idea how to cope with the obscenity," he wrote.
"I personally am bothered by the fact that the captain waited close to two hours before allotting her a fresh seat," Bhattacharjee added.
As no seat was vacant in Business class, the lady was made to stand for 20 minutes and offered a small seat used by airline staff.
The complaint added that after two hours, she was asked to go back to her soiled seat and when she refused, the victim was offered the steward's seat for the rest of the journey.
According to Bhattacharjee, the non-pilot crew went over and above their call of duty "but when you have four first-class seats vacant, you don't make a distressed passenger go back to her (soiled) seat with human remains and wait for a crew seat to be vacant to move her."
Aviation regulator DGCA has pulled up the Air India airline for its unprofessional conduct and has sent show cause notices to the airline, its director of flight safety, and the crew that operated the New York-Delhi flight. The DGCA has asked them to explain in two weeks why action should not be taken against them.
The airline has also initiated action against the pilot and other crew members of the flight.
(With inputs from PTI)
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