'Fully drunk': SC judge shares flight ordeal in 'pee-gate' case hearing

Supreme Court judge Justice K V Viswanathan on Tuesday said he and another SC judge Justice Surya Kant recently witnessed an unpleasant experience on a flight that also had two drunk co-passengers.

Justice Viswanathan narrated the event during a hearing on a plea seeking measures to deal with unruly flyers.

“We had a recent experience during air travel. Two male passengers were fully drunk. One went to the washroom and slept off. The other one, who was outside and had a bag to vomit. The crew was all women. For 30 to 35 minutes no one could open the door. The crew then requested my co-passenger to open the door and take him out to the seat. It was a 2.40 hours flight,” he said.

Justice Viswanathan, who was on a bench with Justice B R Gavai, told Solicitor General Aishwarya Bhati that authorities should find a “creative” solution to address the issue of unruly air passengers and a strategic seating plan for flyers was required to be put in place.

The top court was hearing a plea filed by a 73-year-old woman, on whom a male co-passenger allegedly urinated in an inebriated condition on board an Air India flight in November, 2022.

Shankar Mishra was accused of urinating on the woman co-passenger on the Air India flight from New York to Delhi.

The incident occurred in the business class of the Air India flight on November 26, 2023.