Drunk flyer publicly urinates at Delhi International Airport’s departure gate, abuses passengers

The intoxicated passenger Jauhar Ali Khan was found urinating and abusing fellow passenger at IGI T3's departure gate on January 8 when Delhi Police arrested him.

Another ‘urinating’ incident gathered attention when a man was found urinating publicly at the national capital’s airport. Jauhar Ali Khan scheduled to depart from Delhi on a flight to Dammam was found urinating publicly in front of Indira Gandhi International (IGI) Airport T3 on January 8. Khan who was then taken into custody was found in an intoxicated state. He also abused other passengers. Delhi Police did put him behind the bars, but was later released on bail. Drunk passengers have created a ruckus on flights, making it tough for fellow passengers, cabin crew, and the airlines. This is the third such incident that has gathered attention. 

Air India recently reported two incidents onboard flights. In one incident, a drunk passenger was caught smoking in the lavatory and was not listening to the crew. In the second incident, another passenger allegedly relieved himself on a vacant seat and blanket of a fellow female passenger when she went to the lavatory.

Aviation regulator Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) has issued a show cause notice to Air India after finding the airline's response as "lackadaisical and delayed" regarding two passenger misbehaviour incidents onboard a flight from Paris to New Delhi last month. 

One Jauhar Ali Khan, scheduled to depart from Delhi on a flight to Dammam was urinating publically in front of departure gate 6 at IGI Airport T3 on Jan 8. Khan, who seemed to be inebriated, also abused passengers. He was arrested & later released on a bail bond: Delhi Police — ANI (@ANI) January 11, 2023

The aviation watchdog has issued the show cause notice to the accountable manager of Air India as to why enforcement action should not be taken against them for dereliction of their regulatory obligations.

On January 8, Tata Group Chairman N Chandrasekaran admitted that Air India's response to the incident of a drunk passenger urinating on a woman on one of its international flights last year should have been "much swifter". "We fell short of addressing this situation the way we should have," he said in a statement.

Meanwhile, in the statement issued on Monday, DGCA also mentioned the existing norms related to reporting and acting against unruly passengers. Under DGCA rules, the airline concerned is responsible for informing the regulator within 12 hours of the landing of the aircraft in case of any incident of unruly passengers/ passenger rage/passenger misconduct reported in their flight, the statement said.