
Air India Ahmedabad plane crash: Government constituted high-level panel meets, looks into possible causes
The panel, chaired by Union Home Secretary Govind Mohan, listened to the opinions of various stakeholders about the possible causes of the aircrash and deliberated on steps to be taken to check future occurrence of any such accident, sources said.
In the first meeting of the panel here, the sources said, the focus of the participants was to analyse the possible causes of the aircrash and how to go about in "formulating Standard Operating Procedures for preventing such occurrences in the future".
Air India Ahmedabad plane crash LIVE updates
Since a separate investigation is also being carried out by the Aircraft Accident Investigation Bureau (AAIB), which is looking into the technical aspects of the crash, the panel discussed about the possible causes and lesson to be taken from it, the sources said.
Civil Aviation Minister K Rammohan Naidu on Saturday (June 14, 2025) said while the AAIB investigation will handle the technical aspects, the high-level committee will provide a holistic, policy-oriented roadmap for future safeguards.
Those who attended the meeting on Monday include representatives from the Ministry of Civil Aviation, Home Ministry, Indian Air Force, Intelligence Bureau, Gujarat government, Directorate General of Civil Aviation, and Bureau of Civil Aviation Security, among others.
The committee is expected to submit its report within three months.
The black box of Air India's Boeing 787-8 Dreamliner plane that crashed on Thursday (June 12, 2025) in Ahmedabad was recovered from the site on Friday evening while officials have also confirmed that the Cockpit Voice Recorder has been found, a crucial discovery to help ascertain the possible cause of the accident.
The aircraft from Ahmedabad to London crashed soon after takeoff on Thursday afternoon. Out of 242 people on board the plane, only one person survived.
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The Print
an hour ago
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Liberals don't want Muslim women to demand rights in Hindutva era
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Forever, Muslim women seeking justice within family and community have been demonised by conservatives as 'bad women'. Speaking to the media, Banu recalled how she was threatened and attacked for amplifying the voices of women in a conservative society. Banu Mushtaq's Heart Lamp won the 2025 International Booker Prize for poignantly telling stories based on the lived realities of Muslim women in a male-dominated society. The jury lauded her work for its 'astonishing portraits of survival and resilience'. Originally written in Kannada and translated into English by Deepa Bhasthi, the stories are universal. The women portrayed can be found across India. Mushtaq's work brings alive the pathos and ingenuity with which ordinary women negotiate the complexities imposed by patriarchy. Muslim women have come under the spotlight since 2014. The women-led movement against instant triple talaq had been going on since 2012, gaining momentum when Shayara Bano approached the Supreme Court in 2016. The Union government then filed an affidavit supporting the abolition of instant triple talaq. Many women survivors of triple talaq, as well as my organisation, joined the petition. We argued that the 'talaq talaq talaq' method of divorce was both un-Quranic and unconstitutional. A major campaign educating the public about the rights of women in Islam was undertaken. Thousands of women joined the movement. The conservative clergy defended the practice and fought for the preservation of the status quo. To them, Shariat is divine and cannot be touched by anyone. Most Opposition political parties kept silent, except some parliamentarians who spoke out in their individual capacity. In 2017, the Constitutional Bench of the Supreme Court unanimously ruled that the practice of triple talaq was invalid. In 2019, the Centre brought a law punishing Muslim husbands pronouncing triple talaq with a jail term. The Narendra Modi government has been accused of using Muslim women as tropes to further its politics. On one hand, Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leaders talk about the need for a Uniform Civil Code to help Muslim women. On the other, girls and women in hijab cannot be allowed inside schools and colleges in Karnataka. Also read: Indian Muslims must face the truth—Muslim countries don't care about them Muslim women & majoritarian politics Muslim women cannot be immune to majoritarian policies and rising hate crimes. While reform in family law is overdue, women need to be supported in areas such as education, jobs, health and housing. They need safety, security and a life with dignity and freedoms. Women and children are the worst affected when homes are razed during riots or when bulldozers are deployed. It is ironic that no government could protect the rights of Muslim women since Independence, despite constitutional obligations. Only men with overtly religious identities were perceived as leaders. The Shah Bano episode remains a shameful chapter in our history. It seems Indian Muslim women are obligated to live within predefined boundaries demarcated by conservative clergy – which are occasionally readjusted by the dominant politics of the day. In 1986, the Congress government quashed the maintenance given to Shah Bano by the court in 1985 to ostensibly uphold secularism. They surrendered to the patriarchal forces for fear of losing votes. Between 1986 and now, the opportunity for reforming personal laws has not arisen. This speaks volumes about the stranglehold of patriarchy over our polity. Meanwhile, women continue to suffer from unilateral divorces, and archaic practices such as halala, muta marriages, polygamy, denial of guardianship of children, and denial of a fair share in property. Our petition in the Supreme Court listed verses from the Quran, highlighting how Allah created man and woman as equals. In reality, misogynistic interpretations and misinterpretations abound. The unequal status of Muslim women is one of the key enigmas for our secular democracy. By contrast, the Muslim woman herself shows exemplary behaviour. She knows her rights and duties as a Muslim and as a citizen in a democracy. She demands to be an equal Muslim and an equal citizen at once. I have routinely heard women survivors of the 2002 Gujarat riots saying that they want justice and not charity. Women fighting against triple talaq equipped themselves with Quranic teachings as well as knowledge of constitutional safeguards. They saw no contradiction in demanding justice from both sources. Women fighting against the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) invoked constitutional values of equality, secularism, and non-discrimination as they sat on dharnas with the tricolour in their hands. However, it suited the conservatives to support this women-led agitation, unlike the one against triple talaq. Women can be supported as long as they protest against state institutions and do not challenge the patriarchal status quo within the home and family. Some liberals consider Muslim women's demand for equal rights as inappropriate in times of Hindutva politics. But for women seeking justice within their lifetime, there is nothing called the correct time. Shayara Bano, Aafreen Rehman, Ishrat Jahan, Atiya Sabri, and Gulshan Parveen – all petitioners against triple talaq are living feminine beings. As are the women in Heart Lamp. Zakia Soman is a women's rights activist, columnist, and the co-founder of Bharatiya Muslim Mahila Andolan. Her X handle is @zakiasomanbmma. Views are personal. (Edited by Zoya Bhatti)