[Air India crash] Nobody believes pilot was at fault: Supreme Court to father of plane's captain

The Supreme Court on Friday observed that no one has blamed Captain Sumeet Sabharwal, the pilot who was in command of the Air India plane that crashed at Ahmedabad in June this year, for the mishap that had led to the deaths of 260 people including 19 on the ground.

A Bench of Justices Surya Kant and Joymalya Bagchi was hearing a plea by the 91-year-old father Captain Sabharwal, who has sought an independent judicial probe into the fatal plane crash.

"Nobody can blame the pilot for anything," Justice Kant said.

Representing the deceased pilot's father, Pushkaraj Sabharwal, Senior Advocate Gopal Sankaranarayanan submitted that some quarters have been placing the blame on the pilot.

"The WSJ (Wall Street Journal) has carried an article based on this investigation," he said.

"We are not bothered with that," Justice Bagchi replied.

"I am. My son is being attacked," the senior lawyer persisted.

"Then your case should be against WSJ in an American court. Not here," Justice Bagchi pointed out.

Justice Kant went on to assure the petitioner,

"None of the people in the country believe that it is the fault of the pilot."

"They (pilots) are offering their services to the nation. Such kind of insinuations that’s very sad," Sankarnarayanan added.

The senior lawyer eventually urged the Court to list the matter for further hearing on November 10, while maintaining that an independent investigation into the air crash accident was necessary.

He argued today that there are rules which require such an independent probe into such accidents involving aircraft, which has not been done till now.

"Only preliminary investigation had taken place under rule 9," he said.

The petition filed by Pushkaraj Sabharwal seeks the constitution of a judicially monitored committee headed by a retired Supreme Court judge and with independent experts from the aviation sector as its members to conduct a fair, transparent and technically sound investigation into the crash of the Air India Boeing 787-8 Dreamliner aircraft.

The aircraft had crashed on June 12 while taking off from Ahmedabad.

As per the plea jointly filed by Sabharwal and Federation of Indian Pilots, the investigation presently being undertaken by the Union Ministry of Civil Aviation and the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) and the preliminary report dated June 15 submitted pursuant to that probe are defective and suffers from serious infirmities and perversities.

The petitioners have contended that the report implausibly asserts the cause of the crash to pilot error, while overlooking other glaring and plausible systemic causes that demand independent scrutiny and investigation of the incident.

As per the plea, an incomplete and prejudiced inquiry without identification of the exact cause of the accident endangers the lives of future passengers and undermines aviation safety at large, causing a violation of Article 21 of the Constitution of India.

According to the petition, the current approach of the investigation has resulted in a failure to adequately examine, or rule out, other more plausible technical and procedural factors relating to the Boeing 7 that could have contributed to the tragic incident.

Another related petition filed by non-governmental organisation Safety Matters Foundation is also pending before the top court.

In that plea, the Supreme Court is examining whether requisite measures are being taken to ensure a fair, impartial and expeditious investigation 

[Live Coverage]