After Peegate accused Shankar Mishra’s bizarre claim that the elderly complainant had urinated on herself on account of being a Bharatanatyam dancer caused a furore in the classical dancers’ community, his lawyers are on the back foot. The defence has not only angered dance professionals but also resulted in further negative press for the already disgraced Mishra.
The New Indian team probed one of the lawyers in Mishra’s team, Niraj Gupta to understand why was such an outrageous claim was made in Court and if there is any logical explanation for the submission. “We do not want to talk about the submissions made in front of court as it shows the client in a prejudiced light, ” said Gupta.
One of the lawyers in Mishra’s team said in the Court that it was common for Bharatanatyam dancers to have urinary incontinence, a condition in which the patient loses control over the bladder that results in leaking of urine when one sneezes or coughs.
The lawyers have tried to establish in the Court that it was in fact the complainant who had peed on herself and then blamed the accused. They also tried to argue that the seating arrangement in Business Class on Air India is such that it wouldn’t be possible for Mishra to urinate on her alone without affecting other passengers.
Mishra is currently in Tihar jail serving 14-day judicial custody. On January 7, the court sent Mishra to 14 days of judicial custody a day after he was arrested from Bengaluru. His bail application was rejected. The police had opposed his bail on the ground that the accused was a powerful person and could influence witnesses if given bail. But the Delhi Police failed to get his custody for interrogation.
Mishra has been booked under Sections 510 (misconduct in public by a drunken person), 509 (insulting the modesty of a woman), 294 (sings, recites or utters any obscene song, ballad or words, in or near any public place), and 354 (intending to outrage modesty) of the Indian Penal Code as well as a section of the Aircraft Rules Act in a case registered at the IGI Airport police station.
On November 26, Mishra allegedly urinated on a 72-year-old woman after getting drunk while onboard a US-New Delhi Air India flight. He was arrested from Bengaluru on January 6 after attempting to escape being identified by shaving his beard.
He also lost his job as the India Vice President of Wells Fargo, an American financial services company after the case came to light.