The Supreme Court agreed to hear on Wednesday (January 28, 2026) the petition filed regarding the Air India plane crash in Ahmedabad. This PIL has been filed by an NGO ‘Safety Matters Foundation’. The petition alleges that the official investigation into the Air India plane crash on June 12 has violated citizens’ fundamental rights to life, equality and access to truthful information.
According to PTI report, this petition was placed before the bench of Chief Justice Surya Kant and Justice Joymalya Bagchi on Wednesday. Senior advocate Prashant Bhushan appeared before the bench to present the petitioner’s side. He told the court that till now neither the Central Government nor the Air Accident Investigation Board (AAIB) has filed its reply on the petition.
Prashant Bhushan said, ‘The entire pilots union is saying that there is a problem with the Boeing 787 aircraft due to which it will have to be stopped from flying.’ On this, CJI Surya Kant told him that the hearing on the petitions related to SIR will end today, after which he will hear the matter soon.
On November 13 last year, the Supreme Court had said that Captain Sabharwal, the pilot who lost his life in the Air India crash, was not held guilty in the preliminary report of the AAIB accident investigation. The Supreme Court had also issued a notice to the Central Government and the Director General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) on the petition of Captain Sabharwal’s father Pushkraj Sabharwal.
Pushkraj Sabharwal and ‘Federation of Indian Pilots’ had filed a petition in the Supreme Court for a court-monitored investigation into the Air India plane crash under the chairmanship of a former Supreme Court judge. The court is hearing three petitions filed by an NGO, a law student and the father of the deceased pilot, requesting an independent investigation into the accident under the supervision of the court.
Air India’s Boeing 787-8 flight AI171 was going from Ahmedabad to London’s Gatwick Airport on June 12. The plane crashed moments after taking off from Ahmedabad, killing a total of 260 people, including 241 passengers and crew members. This aircraft was being flown by chief pilot Captain Sumeet Sabharwal and co-pilot Captain Clive Kunder.
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