The Supreme Court on Friday told the father of late Air India pilot Captain Sumeet Sabharwal that no one could hold his son responsible for the tragic Boeing 787 Dreamliner crash in Ahmedabad in June, which killed 260 people. The court also issued notices to the Centre, the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA), and the Aircraft Accident Investigation Bureau (AAIB).
The observation came during the hearing of a petition filed by 91-year-old Pushkaraj Sabharwal, whose son served as the pilot-in-command of the ill-fated aircraft. The Federation of Indian Pilots (FIP) has also filed a separate plea seeking an independent inquiry.
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“This crash was extremely unfortunate, but you should not carry this burden that your son is being blamed,” Justice Surya Kant told the grieving father during the hearing.
Justice Kant further noted that the preliminary report did not attribute fault to Captain Sabharwal. “No one in India believes it was the pilot’s fault. There’s no insinuation against the pilot. One pilot asked whether the fuel was cut off by the other; the other said no,” he said.
When the petitioner’s lawyer referred to a Wall Street Journal report citing an Indian government source, Justice Kant dismissed it, saying, “We are not bothered by foreign reports. If that’s your concern, your remedy should be before a foreign court. It’s just nasty reporting.”
The petitioners approached the top court after the AAIB’s preliminary report, released in July, stated that the fuel supply to both engines was cut off shortly after takeoff. According to the report, both fuel control switches were moved to the “cutoff” position in quick succession and restored about 10 seconds later — but by then, the engines had already flamed out, leading to the crash.
Advocate Gopal Shankaranarayan, representing Captain Sabharwal’s father, argued that the AAIB’s probe lacked independence and called for a judicial inquiry. “There’s a problem with Boeing aircraft all over the world,” he said, adding that the Dreamliner crash should be treated as an “accident” rather than an “incident.”
The Supreme Court will hear the case again on November 10, along with another petition seeking a similar probe.
