Shankar Mishra, accused of urinating on a woman on an Air India flight eight weeks ago in an incident that stoked nationwide outrage, has told a Delhi court that he did not do so, and it was his elderly co-passenger who urinated on herself.
The stunning claim by Mishra comes in response to a notice issued by the sessions court on an application filed by the Delhi Police requesting custody for questioning him. He had been sent to 14-day judicial remand on Saturday by a court that turn down the police's police request for custody.
His request for bail, however, was turned down four days later by a judge, who called the accusations against him "utterly disgusting and repulsive".
"The alleged act in itself is sufficient to outrage the modesty of any woman. The egregious conduct of the accused has shocked the civic consciousness and needs to be deprecated," the judge said on Wednesday, chiding him for being at large until a non-bailable warrant was issued.
During the bail hearing, Mishra's lawyers had made no reference to his latest claim of not urinating on the woman, arguing that his act "was not driven by sexual desire nor aimed at outraging the complainant's modesty".
At the hearing, the woman who has complained against Mishra said she was being threatened by those close to the accused.
"I'm regularly receiving messages, threatening me. Accused's father sent me a message and said 'karma will hit you' and then deleted the message. They're sending me messages and deleting it. This needs to stop," her counsel said.
