"Totally Drunk": Top Court Judge Shares Flight Ordeal In Peegate Hearing

The bench was hearing a petition by an elderly woman who suffered a harrowing experience during a New York-New Delhi flight last year when a drunk passenger allegedly urinated on her

Hearing a petition for tough rules to tackle unruly fliers, a Supreme Court judge today narrated his recent encounter with drunk co-passengers. Justice KV Viswanathan said he and Justice Surya Kant were recently on a flight on which two male passengers were "totally drunk". "Recently when me and Justice Surya Kant were flying. There were two totally drunk male passengers. One locked himself in the toilet and slept, other went out with a vomit bag. (There was an) all-women crew, so they did not open the toilet. So one of my co-passengers had to," the judge said.

Justice Viswanathan said "something creative" must be done to address this issue. "Maybe strategic seating or something." The matter has been adjourned by eight weeks and Additional Solicitor General Aiswarya Bhati was asked to instruct authorities concerned to examine and modify guidelines to manage unruly fliers in line with global practices.

The bench of Justice BR Gavai and Justice KV Viswanathan was hearing a petition by an elderly woman who suffered a harrowing experience during a New York-New Delhi flight last year when a drunk passenger allegedly urinated on her. The petitioner has demanded a Standard Operation Procedure (SOP) to deal with such fliers.