TMC MP Mahua Moitra on Air India 'pee-gate' case: ‘This has to be one of the craziest legal defences'

Trinamool Congress leader Mahua Moitra criticised Shankar Mishra's attorney on Saturday for saying in court that the woman complaining about the urination on Air India had a "incontinence" issue and urinated on herself.

Mishra's lawyer, Ramesh Gupta, pleaded not guilty in a Delhi court, asserting that the woman had peed on herself. The woman is a Kathak dancer, and according to him, "80% of Kathak dancers have this issue."

Mohua Moitra said, “This has to go down in legal history as one of the craziest defences. Think Pee Man’s legal team should also be tried under IPC sections for outraging modesty for making such insinuations.”

This generalisation has infuriated many performers of traditional Indian dances across the nation.

“It is an unfortunate case and one of the most bizarre reasons I have heard that 80% of kathak dancers have such problems,” said Kathak exponent, Padma Shri Shovana Narayan. “In Shankar Mishra’s case, a woman’s modesty is compromised, and this is absolutely wrong. We must sympathise with the woman,” she added.

Mishra is accused of peeing on a passenger on an Air India flight on November 26 as it travelled from New York to Delhi. On January 4, a complaint was made against him in Delhi, and on January 6, Bengaluru police detained him. On January 7, he was given a 14-day judicial detention sentence.

As new police arguments were presented to the court on Friday, the Delhi police were given permission to file a new application seeking Mishra's custody.

Also Read: Air India 'pee-gate' case: Elderly woman hits back on 'urinated on herself' claim

Also Read: Air India 'pee-gate' takes a strange turn! Accused Shankar Mishra has somehow dragged Kathak dance in the case