The Supreme Court on Monday observed that certain remarks made in the preliminary probe report of the Aircraft Accident Investigation Bureau (AAIB) on the Ahmedabad Air India crash were “irresponsible”.
A bench of Justices Surya Kant and N. Kotiswar Singh issued notices to the Centre and the Director General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) on a PIL seeking an independent, fair and expeditious probe into the June 12 accident.
The top court stressed the need to avoid rumours and speculations till the final enquiry is complete. “When this kind of tragedy happens, one airline would be blamed. Boeing and Airbus will not be attributed with fault, and so the entire airline is run down,” Justice Kant said.
When senior advocate Prashant Bhushan, appearing for the petitioners, claimed that certain remarks in the AAIB report were seized upon by the international media to build a narrative of the pilot’s error, Justice Kant said “that was unfortunate”.
Kudos to the SC for issuing notice to the govt to ensure a fair, independent & expeditious investigation into the Air India crash at Ahmedabad in June. Govt had appointed a 5 member Investigation team of which 3 were serving officers of DGCA, which may itself need to be… https://t.co/sqD5N93roA
— Prashant Bhushan (@pbhushan1) September 22, 2025
Bhushan also noted that the Wall Street Journal had published a report, blaming the senior pilot, even before the official release of the preliminary report.
Responding to it, Justice Kant said, “Very irresponsible kind of [reporting]...confidentiality is the most important thing in these matters”.
The petition was filed by an aviation safety NGO led by Captain Amit Singh (FRAeS), alleging that the official probe violates citizens' fundamental rights to life, equality and access to truthful information.
The petitioner alleged that the AAIB’s preliminary report withholds critical information, including the full Digital Flight Data Recorder (DFDR) output, complete Cockpit Voice Recorder (CVR) transcripts with time stamps and Electronic Aircraft Fault Recording (EAFR) data.
In one of the worst accidents in India’s aviation history, an Air India flight AI171 en route to London's Gatwick airport crashed into a medical hostel complex shortly after taking off from Ahmedabad on June 12, killing 265 people, including 241 passengers and crew on board.
