A Delhi court has today reserved its order on the bail plea by Shankar Mishra who was arrested for allegedly having urinated on a fellow passenger in November last on board an Air India flight in November last year while under the influence of alcohol.
Metropolitan Magistrate Komal Garg heard the matter today and reserved her decision. The order is expected to pronounced later today.
The prayer for bail was strongly opposed by both the State as well as the complainant, with the Court being told that Mishra was highly influential and likely to influence the course of the case if he were to be released.
“This is highly probable that he may influence the complainant. He is a person of means and highly influential. The investigation at an initial stage,” the Public Prosecutor told the Court.
The counsel for the complainant told the Court,
“The court has to examine whether bail can be granted to an offender who first said that he did, apologised for it but later recanted … He is saying he was intoxicated. Intoxication can never be a defence. It is not his case that he was given liquor without his knowledge … It was on account of his influence that Air India chose not to register an FIR … My complaint was on 28th. It was only because of his influence that FIR took so many days.”
The complainant was represented by advocates Ankur Mahindro and Rohan Taneja.
Notably, they also told the Court that Mishra’s father has been sending unwarranted WhatsApp messages to the complainant.
“The father of the accused is sending me messages in WhatsApp. He says Karma will hit me and then deletes the message. On the date of arrest he writes this message,” her counsel submitted.
“How did your number get tobhhhj him?” the Court queried.
“That is Air India’s fault. They made me sit across from the offender and at that time my number was exchanged,” the complainant’s counsel replied.
Appearing for Mishra, advocate Manu Sharma, however, refuted these allegations outright.
“These kinds of allegations are baseless that is being made. This is not my father’s number,” Sharma said.