The 91-year-old father of the Air India pilot-in-command in the Ahmedabad crash of June has approached the Supreme Court, seeking an independent judicial investigation into the fatal incident.
Pushkaraj Sabharwal, father of Captain Sumeet Sabharwal, filed a petition requesting the constitution of a court-monitored committee headed by a retired Supreme Court judge, with independent aviation and technical experts as members. The aim is to ensure a transparent, unbiased, and technically thorough investigation into the crash of the Air India Boeing 787-8 Dreamliner, which claimed 260 lives on June 12 while taking off from Ahmedabad.
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The plea, filed jointly with the Federation of Indian Pilots, argued that the current investigation by the Union Ministry of Civil Aviation and the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA), including the preliminary report dated June 15, is flawed. It alleges that the report unfairly attributes the crash solely to pilot error, ignoring plausible systemic and technical causes that require independent scrutiny.
The petitioners contend that an incomplete and biased inquiry not only risks future passenger safety but also violates Article 21 of the Indian Constitution, which guarantees the right to life. The plea highlights the failure of the existing investigation to adequately examine potential technical and procedural factors, including:
- Unexplained RAT deployment prior to crew inputs
- Systemic electrical collapse ignored
- Lack of probe into design-level faults
- Implausible fuel switch movements and misplaced pilot blame
- Ignored comparable Boeing 787 incidents
According to the petition, selective disclosure in the current investigation unfairly targets the crew, preventing a complete discovery of the root causes and jeopardising future flight safety.
The Supreme Court has not yet listed the petition for hearing. The Court is also hearing a separate plea by the NGO Safety Matters Foundation, examining whether appropriate steps are being taken for a fair, impartial, and expeditious probe into the tragedy.
