Need stricter punishment on alcohol served on overseas flights, say experts

Two latest incidents of inebriated flyers urinating on copassengers midair have prompted a discussion on the quantity of alcohol served on overseas flights Experts midday spoke to suggested putting a cap on liquor served to travellers and amending the related laws to award stricter punishment to the offenders According to a provision of the law a person guilty of misconduct in a drunken state can be jailed for a maximum of 24 hours orand fined Rs 10On November 26 Shankar Mishra allegedly unzipped his pants and urinated on a 70yearold woman copassenger in an inebriated condition The incident happened in the business class of Air Indiarsquos New YorkDelhi flight On December 6 another inebriated man allegedly urinated on the blanket of a woman copassenger on a ParisNew Delhi flight of Air IndiaExperts say airline staff should also ensure passengers donrsquot drink too much Representation picConsidering the growing trend of such unruly incidents changes need to be made to the provisions in the Indian Penal Code and The Aircraft Rules experts saidLiability of airlineAdvocate Floyd Gracias a Supreme Court counsel said that the airlines should be responsible for any misconduct of passengers when they serve alcohol on board the flight ldquoThe airline staff ought to use due diligence to ensure that passengers on board do not overconsume alcohol so as to cause nuisance or annoyance to fellow passengersrdquo he addedAlso read Air India urination incident Shankar Mishra says woman urinated on own seatRegulate liquorldquoThere ought to be a cap on the amount of alcohol consumed by a single passenger The airline staff ought to regulate the amount of alcohol served to passengers especially when they show signs of inebriation A provision of The Aircraft Rules clearly states that no person shall consume alcohol or drugs that jeopardises the good order and discipline on board the aircraftrdquo explained advocate FloydldquoThe need of the hour is the amendment of the existing rules and laws and the passage of new rules and laws to deal with unruly incidents to secure the rights and safety of all passengers aboard an aircraftrdquo Floyd concludedDecoding the existing lawldquoAn intoxicated person is in the state of mind which is legally termed as lsquodementia offectatiarsquo that is where the function of mind is temporarily suspended As per the provisions of the Indian Penal Code Section 510 states that whoever in a state of intoxication appears in any public place or in any place and causes annoyance to any person shall be punished with simple imprisonment for a term which may extend to 24 hours or with fine that may extend to R10 or with bothrdquo said Advocate Shreeprasad Parab a constitutional expertldquoInterestingly the Law Commission of India in its 42nd Report has also recommended to extensively amend the Indian Penal Code in the year 1971 which has still not materialised due to the reasons best known to the staterdquo said advocate ParabOutlived old laws ldquoThe incident has exposedthe system which is being regulated by quite old and outlived laws The recent incidents have given an opportunity to the policymakers to replace the outdated laws with the ones that would be commensurate with such issues or would have a deterrent impact on offendersFor instance Section 510 of the IPC can be suitably amended by adding certain clauses defining aggravated offences such as lsquocausing disturbances on board while in a drunken statersquo for which the penalty should be also made severe Similarly IPC Section 509 word gesture or act intended to insult the modesty of a woman also can be amended by adding aggravated forms of offences with appropriate punishmentrdquo said advocate Rajeshwar Panchal who practices in the Bombay High CourtWhy just KamraAdvocate Panchal pointed to the sixmonth ban on comedian Kunal Kamra in 2020 for posing some questions to a journalist aboard a flight and asked why such a strict action was not taken against MishraldquoIn the case of Mishra such a strict action seems to have been avoided for reasons best left unexplored Although such incidents are rare still the existing laws fall short of effectively dealing with such cases It is high time that policymakers take this incident seriously and come up with suitable measuresrdquo he saidAirlines need to amend rules too PilotCaptain Dayanand JoshildquoSuch acts of excessive intoxication and peeing on fellow passengers were never anticipated nor expected in commuting not even aboard busesrdquo said Captain Dayanand Joshi an Indian origin First Officerpilot with Vietnam Airlines while speaking to midday from his destination San FranciscoJoshi is engaged in medium to longhaul operations from Ho Chi Minh City in Vietnam to San Francisco in the US with 1516 hours of flight timeThe International Civil Aviation Organisation ICAO of the United Nations defines unruly behaviour he said Joshi said that foreign carriers have a set of discrete rules for serving excessive drinks on board a flight ldquoBasically the crewrsquos judgement is most importantrdquoldquoThe fullservice airlines serve alcohol on longhaul flights with changes in time zones to comfort the passengers But it is a latent violation of crew on duty to decide the amount of alcohol to be served to each passenger knowing the fact that any unruly behaviour because of excessive drink consumption will make him act in an erratic manner affecting the adjacent seated passengers People behave absurdly and inhumanly as noted in most of the airlinesrdquo he saidSome airlines have changed their policy of serving alcohol in view of such incidents They serve alcohol postmeal he addedldquoThere are no defined rules We term unruly behaviour for any act against that is a threat to the active crew or any threat action initiated to the airplane But an absurd act between the passengers is criminal conspiracy which has not yet been clearly defined by the legislationrdquo he saidJoshi also suggested changing the laws and said that the airlines should also amend their rules on the quantity and frequency of alcohol served on board ldquoThis is welldefined by many other airlines for whom I have workedrdquo he added