New Delhi: In a significant ruling, the Supreme Court of India (SC) has indicated that no blame can be attributed to the pilot of the Air India flight that tragically crashed near Ahmedabad in June, resulting in the deaths of 260 people including the two pilots and the crew.
A Bench comprising Justices Surya Kant and Joymalya Bagchi was hearing a petition filed by Pushkar Raj Sabharwal, father of the late Commander Sumeet Sabharwal — one of the pilots on board. The petition sought an independent, court-monitored inquiry into the crash, alleging that the existing probe by the Aircraft Accident Investigation Bureau (AAIB) lacked impartiality.
During the hearing, Justice Surya Kant reassured the petitioner: “It is an extremely unfortunate incident, but you should not bear the burden that your son is being blamed. Nobody can blame him for anything.” Justice Bagchi added that AAIB’s preliminary report did not indicate any fault on the part of the pilots.
The petitioners argued that the ongoing investigation included officials from agencies whose conduct was under question and contended that the preliminary report was one-sided—focusing on pilot error while neglecting systemic and technical aspects. They cited concerns raised in a report by the Wall Street Journal about pilot error, which the court dismissed as irrelevant to the domestic investigation: “We are not concerned with what foreign media says. That is nasty reporting. No one here believes it was the pilot’s fault,” the judges said.
The Bench has issued notice to the Union Government and scheduled further hearings along with a connected petition for 10 November.
The court’s ruling underscores the judiciary’s recognition of the pilot’s non-culpability and signals a potential shift towards scrutinising the investigative framework itself rather than individual error.