“Don’t blame yourself, pilot not at fault,” Supreme Court tells grieving father in Air India crash case

New Delhi (The Uttam Hindu): The Supreme Court has issued notices to the Central Government and the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) seeking a response to a petition seeking an independent and impartial investigation into this year's Air India plane crash in Ahmedabad. The petition was filed by Pushkaraj Sabharwal, the 91-year-old father of Dreamliner pilot Captain Sumit Sabharwal.

A bench of Justices Surya Kant and Joymalya Bagchi clarified during the initial hearing that the pilot was not to blame for the accident. The court said, "Don't burden yourself. The pilot is not to blame for the plane crash. Even the preliminary report does not contain any allegations or indications against him."

Senior advocate Gopal Sankaranarayanan, representing the petitioner, argued that an international newspaper report had raised questions about the pilot's role. The bench remarked that such reporting was also seen as a way to malign India; the court would rely solely on the facts and official investigation.

On June 12, a London-bound Boeing 787 Dreamliner plane crashed into a medical college hostel in the Meghani Nagar area shortly after takeoff from Ahmedabad airport. All but one of the 242 people on board were killed in the accident, as were 19 others at the scene.

The Supreme Court read a paragraph from the report issued by the Aircraft Accident Investigation Board on July 12 and said that it nowhere stated that the pilot was responsible for the accident. It only mentioned the conversation between the two pilots of the plane. The court said that the next hearing in the case will be on November 10. Last month, the pilot's father and the Federation of Indian Pilots approached the Supreme Court seeking a court-monitored investigation.