Air India crash: Deceased pilot's father, union move SC seeking probe

The petition claims that the ongoing probe is "incomplete, biased, and technically unsound"

The father of Captain Sumeet Sabharwal, the pilot who died in the June 12 crash of Air India flight AI171 in Ahmedabad, has approached the Supreme Court along with the Federation of Indian Pilots, urging the apex court to order a probe overseen by one of its retired judges into the incident that claimed 260 lives.

 

The petition, filed under Article 32 of the Constitution, seeks the constitution of a court-monitored committee comprising

 

a retired judge of the Supreme Court and independent aviation and technical experts.

 

It also seeks a direction that all investigations carried out so far, including the preliminary report dated July 12, be treated as closed, and all records, data, and evidence be transferred to the new inquiry panel.

 

 

The plea contends that the ongoing probe is “incomplete, biased, and technically unsound” and undermines India’s obligations under ICAO Annexe 13, which mandates an independent investigation authority.

 

The petition also alleges that the current five-member team is dominated by officials from the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) and the Aircraft Accident Investigation Bureau (AAIB), the very entities responsible for regulatory oversight, thereby violating the principle of nemo judex in causa sua (no one should be a judge in their own cause).

 

The petitioners also accused the authorities of selectively leaking the contents of the Cockpit Voice Recorder (CVR) to the media in violation of Rule 17(5) of the Aircraft (Investigation of Accidents and Incidents) Rules, 2017.

 

These leaks, they claim, fuelled a “malicious media campaign” attributing fault to the deceased pilot without corroborative evidence, amounting to state-facilitated defamation and violation of the family’s right to dignity under Article 21.

 

Sabharwal’s father said his son had an “unblemished career spanning over 30 years, with 15,638 hours of incident-free flying, including 8,596 hours on Boeing 787-8 aircraft, without a single reported lapse or incident causing fatalities or otherwise.”

 

The plea also points to several technical lapses in the preliminary report, including failure to examine the unexplained deployment of the Ram Air Turbine (RAT) before any pilot input, the simultaneous failure of multiple electrical systems, and damage to the Enhanced Aircraft Flight Recorder (EAFR) consistent with lithium-ion combustion. It also notes that the investigation ignored prior incidents involving the Boeing 787 Dreamliner, which could indicate systemic or design-level faults.

 

Calling the attribution of pilot error “implausible” and “procedurally unjust,” the petitioners argue that the failure to probe design or software integration failures in Boeing’s Common Core System amounts to non-application of mind and suppression of material facts.

 

“The investigation has been prejudiced, arbitrary, and structurally compromised, with the regulator effectively investigating itself,” the plea states, adding that this endangers future passengers and violates the state’s constitutional obligation to protect life under Article 21.

 

The petition is expected to be listed before a bench of the Supreme Court in the coming days.

 

On September 22, the Supreme Court had questioned the “selective” release of the Aircraft Accident Investigation Bureau’s (AAIB) report on the preliminary findings into the June 12 Air India crash in Ahmedabad. A two-judge bench of Justices Surya Kant and N Kotiswar Singh said that “selective publication of the preliminary inquiry report was unfortunate”.

 

“Until the investigation is complete, confidentiality must be maintained,” the bench had observed.

 

While agreeing to hear a public interest litigation moved by Safety Matters Foundation, a non-profit organisation, the bench had sought the Union government as well as the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA)’s response.