While hearing a petition seeking the formulation of guidelines to deal with unruly and disruptive behaviour by aircraft passengers, a Supreme Court Bench narrated its own experience of observing intoxicated passengers on a flight two Judges of the Court were travelling on.

A two-Judge Bench comprising Justice B.R. Gavai and Justice K.V. Vishwanathan were in the process of hearing a Public Interest Litigation petition filed by a senior citizen woman who was urinated upon by an intoxicated passenger during an international flight and who, in the incident's aftermath, had approached the Court seeking directions to the Director General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) and airline companies to frame regulations to address incidents of passenger misconduct and lay down a protocol to be followed in such cases. On May 8, 2024, the Court had issued notice to the Union Government, the Directorate General of Civil Aviation and airlines.

Justice Vishwanathan, narrating an incident from a late night flight he took in September with Justice Surya Kant, said, "Two passengers fully drunk, one got into the washroom and slept off. One outside held a bag to vomit given by the all-women lady crew. (Even after) half-an-hour, 35 minutes, they couldn't open it even with the master key, because it was an all women crew. Then they requested a male passenger and he opened (the door), woke him up and got him out to the seat."

In the incident which led to the filing of the present Writ Petitioner, the counsel for the Petitioner said the victim was not offered an alternative seat by the Air India crew after the incident occurred, "She was made to sit on the same seat, the perpetrator was sent to her, she said 'I don't want to settle', but the crew insisted they settle the matter. The FIR was not registered by the crew, which is the responsibility of the airline." During a flight, she said, "a passenger cannot just walk out".

The counsel said that guidelines only indicate the penalty to be imposed on cases of inappropriate behaviour during flight, but not on how the crew is supposed to act in those cases. "The crew needs to be sensitised on what needs to be done."

Additional Solicitor General Aishwarya Bhati submitted about the incident that a financial penalty of Rs. 30 lakh was imposed on the airline and the pilot's license was suspended. Bhati stressed that though guidelines and standard operating procedures exist for dealing with unruly passengers, "there would be aberrations and action has to be taken in cases of aberrations."

Justice Vishwanathan then suggested that some guidelines could be made specifically to aid senior citizens, such as "strategic seating" or "something creative".

The Bench, dictated the Order- "The learned ASG states that (DGCA) has already notified the guidelines so also issued various circulars to control unruly behaviour by the passengers. It is submitted that the guidelines also take care of fixing the accountability of the crew. In addition, it is stated that airlines have also issued standard operating procedures for controlling unruly behaviour of passengers. The counsel for the Petitioner has given certain suggestions by collecting data from various foreign jurisdictions."

The Bench requested the Petitioner to hand over their suggestions to the ASG to forward the same to the DCGA "to find out as to whether the guidelines could be modified so as to make them more comprehensive" and posted the matter after eight weeks for further hearing.

Cause Title: Hema Rajaraman v. Union of India [W.P.(C) No. 509/2023]

Justice KV VishwanathanJustice BR Gavai

Tushar Kohli