Air India Plane Crash | 'AAIB Enquiry Not For Assigning Blame', Says Supreme Court; Union Clarifies No Blame Attributed To Pilot

In the Air India Plane Crash matter, the Supreme Court today emphasized that the purpose of an enquiry by the AAIB is not to assign blame to anyone, but rather to find the cause of the incident so it can be prevented in future.

The Union, on its part, clarified that there is a statutory and international regime in place to conduct the enquiry and blame has not been attributed to anyone by the AAIB. It further stated that as there was some misconception (about pilot error) after release of an interim report, the Ministry of Civil Aviation issued a press note saying that blame was not attributable to anyone.

A bench comprising Justices Surya Kant and Joymalya Bagchi was hearing petitions seeking an independent, Court-monitored investigation into the crash of Air India Flight, which took place shortly after its take off from Ahmedabad airport, killing 260 people, on June 12, 2025.

One of the petitions has been filed by Safety Matters Foundation, an aviation safety NGO led by Capt. Amit Singh FRAeS. It alleges that the manner in which the probe has been conducted by Aircraft Accident Investigation Bureau (AAIB) violates the fundamental rights to life, equality, and truthful information. The petitioner refers to the AAIB's) Preliminary Report (dated July 12, 2025) to say that it attributed the crash to “fuel cutoff switches” being moved from RUN to CUTOFF, thereby suggesting pilot error. It is contended that the report withheld crucial flight data such as the complete Digital Flight Data Recorder (DFDR) output, the full Cockpit Voice Recorder (CVR) transcript with timestamps, and the Electronic Aircraft Fault Recording (EAFR) data, all of which are essential for an objective understanding of the incident.

A second petition has been filed by Pushkar Raj Sabharwal (the father of Commander Sumeet Sabharwal, one of the pilots of the ill-fated flight), alongwith the 'Federation of Indian Pilots', seeking an independent judicial probe into the tragedy. The petitioners seek closure of the ongoing investigation by AAIB, pointing out that the investigation team comprises of officials from Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) and other state aviation authorities, whose actions were themselves under question.

While hearing the matter in September, the Court expressed concern over the selective leak of the preliminary inquiry report, which fueled a media narrative blaming pilot error for the crash. It orally observed that the selective and piecemeal publication of the preliminary inquiry report was "unfortunate". Till the enquiry is complete, it is important to maintain absolute confidentiality, the Court stressed.

Recently, the Court orally observed that no blame could be attributed to the pilot of the flight (Sumeet Sabharwal). When a reference was made to Wall Street Journal's article on the crash, Justice Kant said, “That is nasty reporting. No one in India believes it was the pilot's fault.”

Today, the Court issued notice on the petition filed by pilot Sumeet Sabharwal's father. It further conveyed that it will not entertain a similar petition filed by a student.

During the hearing, Advocate Prashant Bhushan argued that even as per government rules, incident like the Air India crash require a Court of Inquiry and the investigation cannot be left to AAIB. Referring to steps prepared by the International Civil Aviation Organization to investigate air accidents, SG Tushar Mehta said that there is a regime in place and any interference by anyone may be counter-productive to the "good, valid and focused" ongoing investigation.

"I understand the feeling of the father. There is no blame attributed to anyone. As a matter of fact, after the interim report, which is mandatory within 1 month, since there was some misconception, Ministry of Civil Aviation issued a press note that there is no blame attributable to anyone", the SG said.

Hearing him, Justice Bagchi remarked, "AAIB enquiry is not for apportioning responsibility. The object is to clarify the cause and then give recommendations so that such a situation does not recur. What Mr Bhushan is saying, the supplemental Central government investigation may go into the question of apportionment of responsibility."

At this point, Senior Advocate Gopal Sankaranarayanan (for pilot Sumeet Sabharwal's father) submitted "the regime that Mr Mehta mentioned has not been followed. That's the problem."

Notably, Bhushan also brought to the notice of the Court that after the Air India crash, there have been several incidents of system/technical failures in Boeing's 787s. "Everybody flying in these aircrafts is at risk. The pilots association has said that these aircrafts need to be grounded immediately", said Bhushan.

Ultimately, calling for the respondents' response to the petition filed by pilot Sumeet Sabharwal's father, Justice Kant said that things should not look like a fight between airlines. 

Case Title:

(1) SAFETY MATTERS FOUNDATION v. UNION OF INDIA & ORS., DIARY No.53715/2025

(2) PUSHKAR RAJ SABHARWAL AND ANR. Versus UNION OF INDIA AND ORS., W.P.(C) No. 1031/2025