Delhi Police files FIR against man who urinated on woman passenger on Air India flight

"The accused is a resident of Mumbai, but his possible location is in some other state and the police team has reached there. We will arrest the accused at the earliest," Delhi Police was quoted as saying by new agency ANI.

Delhi Police said it has formed teams to nab the man who urinated on his elderly co-passenger onboard an Air India flight from New York to Delhi in November last year.

On Wednesday, police filed an FIR under sections 354, 509, and 510 of the Indian Penal Code and Section 23 of the Indian Aircraft Act after Air India filed a complaint in the incident.

As a first step, Air India banned the passenger for 30 days, the maximum it is permitted to do unilaterally.

"Air India has taken a very serious note of the incident, where a passenger behaved in an unacceptable and undignified manner on the New York-Delhi flight that caused extreme distress to a fellow passenger. A police complaint has already been lodged in this case and Air India is committed to assisting the law enforcement agencies as well as regulatory authorities in ensuring that justice is delivered to the aggrieved passenger," an Air India spokesperson said.

Air India has also set up an internal panel to investigate if the crew failed to address the situation properly that caused distress to the passenger.

Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) also launched an investigation, the ANI report said.

The National Commission for Women also took cognisance of the incident onboard the Air India flight.

The woman passenger, who is in her seventies, also wrote a letter to chairman of the Board of Tata Sons, N Chandrasekaran, describing the flight extremely traumatic and expressed her deep disappointment over the incident in the business class section of the flight.

"I am writing to express my deep disappointment regarding the appalling incident that occurred during my business class trip on flight AI102 (commencing in NY, JFK yesterday 26th November at 12.30 pm, and arriving this afternoon in New Delhi Indira Gandhi International Airport at approximately 1.30 pm). This has been the most traumatic flight that I have ever experienced.

"During the course of the flight, shortly after lunch was served and the lights were switched off, I was getting ready to sleep, and another passenger walked to my seat completely inebriated. He unzipped his pants, relieved himself, and continued to expose me to his private parts. The passenger sitting next to me asked him to return to his seat. He did not respond immediately, but after a few moments left the area," the letter read.

She also wrote that "the airline refused and informed her there were no seats available".