NEW DELHI: A plea has been filed in the Supreme Court seeking a court-monitored investigation into the June 12 Air India crash in Ahmedabad that killed 260 people, including passengers, crew and civilians.
A bench of Justices Surya Kant and Joymalya Bagchi tagged the plea with another pending case raising similar concerns. The court asked the petitioner, Akhilesh Kumar Mishra, a Delhi University research scholar and practising advocate to serve copies of the petition to the attorney general and the solicitor general.
Senior advocate Rajiv Shakdher, representing the petitioner said that his client wanted a fair and transparent probe into the tragedy. The plea, filed through advocate Shubham Upadhya, stressed the need for court intervention to ensure the investigation is independent.
The plea referred to the preliminary report of the Ministry of Civil Aviation’s Aircraft Accident Investigation Bureau (AAIB) which suggested the crash was caused by an abrupt shutdown of both engines after the fuel control switches moved from “run” to “cutoff” within a one-second.
However, the petition raised “inconsistencies and contradictions,” pointing to cockpit voice recordings where one pilot asked, “Why did you cut off?” and the other replied, “I didn’t.” The aircraft had been airborne for just 40 seconds before the crash.
The plea also argued that both pilots were highly experienced with a combined 19000 flying hours, including over 9000 hours on Boeing 787s. Aviation experts have said that the fuel cutoff switches require deliberate action and cannot be flipped accidentally, ruling out pilot error.
The petitioner alleged that despite signs of possible design flaws, software issues or systemic failures, Boeing had not been held accountable in the report. Instead, the investigation appeared to place blame on the deceased pilots, a move the plea claimed allowed Boeing to “evade liability.”
"The current trajectory of the investigation appears to unjustifiably shift blame onto the deceased pilots, who are unable to defend themselves, thereby allowing Boeing to evade liability, a pattern not unfamiliar in its corporate history," plea said.
It also questioned the credibility of the probe, pointing out that details of the AAIB’s preliminary report appeared in the Wall Street Journal nearly 20 hours before the official release, undermining its confidentiality.
Earlier, on September 22, the Supreme Court had agreed to hear a similar plea filed by NGO Safety Matters Foundation. At that time, the court described the selective publication of the preliminary report as “unfortunate and irresponsible,” saying it risked shaping a one-sided media narrative.
The court has already issued notices to the Centre and the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) on the demand for an independent and expeditious investigation.
It also stressed that such probes must protect the privacy and dignity of victims’ families and be conducted swiftly to prevent speculation or selective leaks in the media.
Crash briefing: What happened on June 12?
Air India Flight AI-171, a Boeing 787-8 Dreamliner carrying 242 passengers and crew, had taken off for London but crashed minutes later into a hostel block of the BJ Medical College campus near the airport.
The crash killed 241 passengers and crew aboard and 33 people on the ground, bringing the total confirmed fatalities to 274, making it the deadliest single-aircraft disaster in Indian aviation history.
Among the victims were former Gujarat chief minister Vijay Rupani and several medical staff and students from the college. Only one passenger, Viswashkumar Ramesh, survived.
Preliminary AAIB findings revealed that the fuel cutoff switches for both engines moved from “RUN” to “CUTOFF” within one second of each other, about three seconds after takeoff.
A bench of Justices Surya Kant and Joymalya Bagchi tagged the plea with another pending case raising similar concerns. The court asked the petitioner, Akhilesh Kumar Mishra, a Delhi University research scholar and practising advocate to serve copies of the petition to the attorney general and the solicitor general.
Senior advocate Rajiv Shakdher, representing the petitioner said that his client wanted a fair and transparent probe into the tragedy. The plea, filed through advocate Shubham Upadhya, stressed the need for court intervention to ensure the investigation is independent.
The plea referred to the preliminary report of the Ministry of Civil Aviation’s Aircraft Accident Investigation Bureau (AAIB) which suggested the crash was caused by an abrupt shutdown of both engines after the fuel control switches moved from “run” to “cutoff” within a one-second.
However, the petition raised “inconsistencies and contradictions,” pointing to cockpit voice recordings where one pilot asked, “Why did you cut off?” and the other replied, “I didn’t.” The aircraft had been airborne for just 40 seconds before the crash.
The plea also argued that both pilots were highly experienced with a combined 19000 flying hours, including over 9000 hours on Boeing 787s. Aviation experts have said that the fuel cutoff switches require deliberate action and cannot be flipped accidentally, ruling out pilot error.
The petitioner alleged that despite signs of possible design flaws, software issues or systemic failures, Boeing had not been held accountable in the report. Instead, the investigation appeared to place blame on the deceased pilots, a move the plea claimed allowed Boeing to “evade liability.”
"The current trajectory of the investigation appears to unjustifiably shift blame onto the deceased pilots, who are unable to defend themselves, thereby allowing Boeing to evade liability, a pattern not unfamiliar in its corporate history," plea said.
It also questioned the credibility of the probe, pointing out that details of the AAIB’s preliminary report appeared in the Wall Street Journal nearly 20 hours before the official release, undermining its confidentiality.
Earlier, on September 22, the Supreme Court had agreed to hear a similar plea filed by NGO Safety Matters Foundation. At that time, the court described the selective publication of the preliminary report as “unfortunate and irresponsible,” saying it risked shaping a one-sided media narrative.
The court has already issued notices to the Centre and the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) on the demand for an independent and expeditious investigation.
It also stressed that such probes must protect the privacy and dignity of victims’ families and be conducted swiftly to prevent speculation or selective leaks in the media.
Crash briefing: What happened on June 12?
Air India Flight AI-171, a Boeing 787-8 Dreamliner carrying 242 passengers and crew, had taken off for London but crashed minutes later into a hostel block of the BJ Medical College campus near the airport.
The crash killed 241 passengers and crew aboard and 33 people on the ground, bringing the total confirmed fatalities to 274, making it the deadliest single-aircraft disaster in Indian aviation history.
Among the victims were former Gujarat chief minister Vijay Rupani and several medical staff and students from the college. Only one passenger, Viswashkumar Ramesh, survived.
Preliminary AAIB findings revealed that the fuel cutoff switches for both engines moved from “RUN” to “CUTOFF” within one second of each other, about three seconds after takeoff.
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