More Stories

Informist, Wednesday, Feb. 11, 2026

 

NEW DELHI – The Supreme Court Wednesday asked the Centre to give a status report within three weeks on the probe into the crash of the London-bound Air India in Gujarat on Jun. 12. The court also asked the Centre to submit a brief report on whether it was following the procedural protocol in line with international commitments in the probe into the crash.

 

The bench, headed by Chief Justice of India Surya Kant, noted the government and the Directorate General of Civil Aviation's statements that the Aircraft Accident Investigation Bureau was in the final stages of its probe and that some parts of the investigation needed to be carried out in foreign countries.

 

The court was hearing a public interest litigation by Safety Matters Foundation, an aviation safety non-government organisation, seeking a court-monitored independent investigation into the Air India plane crash. The Air India flight from Ahmedabad to Gatwick in London had crashed seconds after takeoff, killing 241 passengers and the crew. 

 

Advocate Prashant Bhushan, appearing for the petitioner, said three other Boeing 787 Dreamliners had met with similar incidents, and the Centre has not filed any response to the pleas. 

 

The court asked Bhushan not to give much credence to unverified media reports. "Last week, it was said that the Dreamliner from London to Delhi had some problems with the fuel switch. Later, it was said from the official account of the airline that it was perfectly fine. But this incident (the crash), of course, was very unfortunate. Let us also be very conservative in making comments on a particular airline. The Dreamliner was once hailed as the best," the court said.

 

The court said it would review the Aircraft Accident Investigation Bureau's report and then decide whether a court of inquiry was needed.

 

Earlier, the petitioner had argued that the preliminary report issued by the Aircraft Accident Investigation Bureau was "incomplete, selective, and lacking in transparency, thereby undermining the credibility of the investigative process and the trust of the travelling public".

 

The petition stated that the preliminary report contained selective disclosures, such as paraphrased references to cockpit voice recordings without timestamps, full transcripts, or corroborative context. "This selective presentation creates a misleading impression and undermines transparency... Such selective disclosure of partial information has the effect of shaping a biased public perception, one that tends to attribute the cause of the accident to pilot error while absolving the manufacturer and the airline of potential responsibility," the petitioner said.

 

The non-government organisation alleged that by releasing incomplete and unverified extracts of the cockpit voice recording, the Aircraft Accident Investigation Bureau had created an information environment that unfairly tilts the narrative in favour of the operator and manufacturer, contrary to the principles of impartiality, transparency, and public accountability that must govern air accident investigations. The petitioner had sought directions to the authorities to make publicly available the complete data retrieved from the aircraft. Further, the petitioner had sought the appointment of independent experts to monitor the investigation. End

 

Reported by Surya Tripathi

Edited by Saji George Titus

 

For users of real-time market data terminals, Informist news is available exclusively on the NSE Cogencis WorkStation.

 

Cogencis news is now Informist news. This follows the acquisition of Cogencis Information Services Ltd. by NSE Data & Analytics Ltd., a 100% subsidiary of the National Stock Exchange of India Ltd. As a part of the transaction, the news department of Cogencis has been sold to Informist Media Pvt. Ltd.

 

Informist Media Tel +91 (22) 6985-4000

Send comments to feedback@informistmedia.com

 

© Informist Media Pvt. Ltd. 2026. All rights reserved.