Mumbai: An Indian pilots’ body has served a legal notice to US-based Wall Street Journal and UK-based Reuters for their reports claiming that the investigation of the AI-171 crash has been focused on the flight’s captain.
After the US-based Wall Street Journal newspaper reported that the investigation of Air India’s AI-171, that crashed in Ahmedabad on June 12 killing 260 people, is now focused on the flight’s captain, the aircraft accident investigation bureau (AAIB) had stated that certain sections of the international media are repeatedly attempting to draw conclusions through selective and unverified reporting. Indian aviators’ body ALPA India had also criticised the report and said that the crew deserve respect instead of unfounded character judgements.
The report, originally published by WSJ and followed by Reuters, has sparked a controversy as it hinted at a human-error or sabotage of the flight. On Friday, the Federation of Indian Pilots (FIP) served a legal notice to both the publications for their reports alleging that they attribute speculative and unverified conclusions concerning the conduct of the pilots, which are neither substantiated by the official investigation nor endorsed by any competent authority. Both the pilots, Sumeet Sabharwal and Clive Kunder, were the members of FIP.
Calling the speculative content as highly irresponsible, it alleged that it has caused grave and irreparable harm to the reputation of the deceased pilots, who are unable to defend themselves. It also accused WSJ and Reuters of inflicting unnecessary distress on the bereaved families and diminishing the morale of the pilot fraternity.
The pilots’ body has asked both the publications to cease and desist from publishing content speculates, amend the articles to remove content that could be construed as attributing blame and issue a clarification acknowledging that no final conclusions have been released by the authorities and that the article was based on secondary reports. The publications have been warned that if they failed to act in accordance with this notice, the association may pursue legal remedies for defamation, mental anguish, and reputational harm.
