After a new case of urination at Delhi Airport was reported on Wednesday, a comparison between this one with that of the Air India urination case started drawing attention to the religion of the offenders. BJP leader Kapil Mishra was one of those who stoked the debate as he asked why Jauhar Ali Khan, the offender of the latest urination case, was given bail the same day by the Delhi Police while the police opposed bail for Shankar Mishra, the accused of the first urination case in November on a New York-Delhi Air India flight.
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“Why no media is shouting ‘Khan The Urinator now’? Why Jauhar is not sacked from his job but Shankar is sacked from his job?” the BJP leader tweeted.
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Three back-to-back urination incidents have been reported so far. The first one took place in November last year on an Air India flight and sent a shockwave after it was reported following the complaint of the female passenger. Accused Shankar Mishra was arrested and lost his job for urinating on the woman in a drunken state.
The second incident was reported on a Paris-Delhi Air India flight on December 6 last year. The drunk male passenger was apprehended but no penal action was taken after he gave a written apology.
The third incident took place on January 8 when Jauhar Ali Khan, a Dammam-bound passenger urinated in front of departure gate 6 at Delhi airport terminal 3. Khan, a Bihar resident, was arrested and released on a bail bond the same day. Upon medical examination, it was confirmed that he had consumed alcohol.
The first incident, however, received the maximum backlash. The verdict in his case has been reserved and the judge called the act of urinating on an elderly woman “utterly disgusting and repulsive”.
The issue of the religion of the accused surfaced on social media discourse soon after the first Air India incident was reported. In a tweet, journalist Rajdeep Sardesai wondered what would have happened if Shekhar Mishra had not been a Mishra but a Khan. “Guess who would be doing cartwheels of outrage on prime time and social media? A Mishra or a Khan, law must be same for all as should response. Agree?” the tweet read. Filmmaker Vivek Agnihotri replied and said, “The law is same for everyone…It’s the media which discriminates. I am sure if it was Khan, you would have called him a victim by now. Pl think and reflect,” Agnihotri tweeted.
