The Supreme Court has sought replies from the Centre and aviation watchdog Director General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) on the plea of father of the pilot killed in tragic Air India plane crash, wherein he sought an independent probe into the crash. The court told Commander Sumeet Sabharwal’s 91-year-old father not to carry the burden on himself, and issued notices to Centre and the DGCA.
“Pilot is not to be blamed, you should not carry burden on yourself: the SC said to pilot’s father, Pushkar Raj Sabharwal. The apex court further added that the preliminary report of the Aircraft Accident Investigation Bureau (AAIB) does not signal the pilot’s fault.
“There is no insinuation against the pilot even in the preliminary probe report, ” the SC added.
Appearing for the petitioner, Senior Advocate Gopal Sankaranarayanan, claimed that the current investigation being conducted by the AAIB was not independent, stated Live Law.
‘Nobody can blame pilot’
A Bench of Justice Surya Kant and Justice Joymalya Bagchi was hearing the petition, and assured him that no one can say it was his son’s fault.
“It’s extremely unfortunate, this crash, but you should not carry this burden that your son is being blamed. Nobody can blame him for anything.” Justice Kant was quoted as saying by Live Law.
“One pilot asked whether the fuel was cut off by the other; the other said no. There’s no suggestion of fault in that report,” the judge added.
Calling out the foreign media’s reportage over the incident, the top court said that it does not concern them as “that is nasty reporting. No one in India believes it was the pilot’s fault”.
Air India crash report
On June 12, Air India’s AI-171 took off from Ahmedabad airport for London’s Gatwick airport. However, after a few seconds, it crashed on a nearby medical college, killing all but one passenger and several medical students. Labelled as one of the worst accidents in aviation history, the AI crash led to a probe by the AAIB.
A total of 260 people had died in the crash.
A month later, the preliminary report made headlines after it mentioned a brief conversation between the two pilots. One of them asked about the fuel switch being cut off, while the other replied he did not do so. The reason for the crash is said to be the sudden stoppage of the fuel supply that halted both the engines causing the plane to crash and burst in a fireball.
Worried over the report, one of the pilots’ father reached the top court seeking an independent probe.