Indian man, who lost family in Air India crash, is now fighting fresh battle to stay in UK. Here’s why

In more than a month from now, June 12, 2025, the catastrophic Air India crash will mark one year. The final report into the crash is still awaited, while India’s Aircraft Accident Investigation Bureau's (AAIB) preliminary report raised more questions than it bothered to answer.

The Boeing 787-8 Dreamliner disaster paused 241 lives mid-air as it crashed just seconds after takeoff from Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel in Ahmedabad for London’s Gatwick Airport. Vishwash Kumar Ramesh was the sole survivor.

On the ground, the aircraft’s tail section crash-landed into the Atulyam hostels of BJ Medical College, killing several students and taking the total death toll to 260.

Scenes from the crash site still linger in people’s minds, and victims' families continue to grieve, struggling to cope with both loss and financial hardship. One such story is of an Indian man, Mohammad Shethwala, who lost his wife and two-year-old daughter in the AI171 crash.

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Shethwala, originally from Gujarat's Vadodara, is now fighting a fresh battle-- to stay in the United Kingdom.

We take a look.

A battle to remain in the UK

For Shethwala, "nothing has been left" after losing his young daughter Fatima and wife Sadikabanu.

He was dependent on his wife's British visa, and now, following her death, Shethwala has been told to leave the UK by the Home Office, the Metro reported.

After living in the UK for four years, he applied to extend his visa on humanitarian grounds, but the Home Office rejected that request, putting him on immigration bail. Campaigners have slammed the government for "depriving a grieving father of his home."

Overwhelmed with emotions, Shethwala told Metro, "I am not accepting this decision from the government. I’m not feeling well right now because of this. I’m not accepting this decision." Shethwala was working as a delivery driver in the UK.

In 2022, Shethwala came to the UK from India. He was dependent on his wife's student wife, who was then studying at the Ulster University campus in London. In January 2024, Sadikabanu switched to a two-year Graduate visa.

After completing her studies, she had just joined a new job in Rugby and was preparing to apply for a Skilled Worker visa, hoping to continue her life in the country. However, her life took a cruel turn, and she died alongside her daughter in a Boeing 787 crash.

Shethwala lost his path to stay in the UK.

The legal fight

His friend Musab Taherwala spoke on his behalf to Metro, saying, "He lost everything. Everything has been ruined. He’s not able to talk about it properly. His mind is not working properly."

Adding, "His wife was supposed to be the main applicant for a skilled worker visa. If his wife had survived, he would still be allowed in the UK. If his daughter had survived, he would have been granted indefinite leave to remain when she turned seven, but she died as well."

Shethwala also applied for Further Leave to Remain (FLR), seeking visa extension in December last year on "compassionate" and "humanitarian" grounds.

According to his lawyers, Shethwala's mental health deteriorated after losing his entire family in the crash, and he was dependent on a close support network of friends in the UK.

On April 9, the Home Office rejected his application despite pleas. Authorities argued that his situation does not fall within the category of exceptional circumstances and that Shethwala could still receive mental health care from health services and other relatives in India.

The grieving father returned to India for a brief period; however, it was extremely challenging for him due to extensive media coverage of the crash, the report noted.

At the same time his application was refused, the Home Office also put him on immigration bail, preventing him from working and barring him from applying for a Skilled Worker visa to remain in the UK.

Taherwala said, "The Home Office are not being fair. We want a review of this decision. He is a deserving person for this extension. He doesn’t have anything. He applied for an extension because he has nothing left," the Metro reported.

Shethwala's lawyers are seeking to challenge the Home Office’s decision in court, which would allow him to remain in the country during the proceedings, according to the news outlet's report.

"A moral failure, Britain must stop criminalising grief"

Fizza Qureshi, CEO of the Migrants’ Rights Network, blasted the UK  Home Office: "We are horrified at the callousness of the Home Office separating a grieving father and husband from his support network who are caring for him and his mental wellbeing at this tragic time."

Qureshi suggested that the officials must show "compassion during grief" and that "no one, after such a horrific experience, should have their life further uprooted and stripped of the valuable wellbeing support they need."

Patrick Vernon OBE, a campaign professor, asserted that Shethwala is being subject to the same kind of cruelty faced by victims of the Windrush scandal.

"This case should shame the Home Office. After losing his wife and young child in a tragic disaster, Mohammad has been met not with support, but with enforcement and hostility," he told Metro.

"This is not just bureaucratic failure; it is a moral failure. Britain must stop criminalising grief and start showing humanity," he added.

A Writer and civil liberties expert, Gracie Mae Bradley, remarked, "The Home Office surely has better things to do than deprive a grieving father of his home and support network less than a year after a life-changing tragedy," the publication reported.

"It should reconsider Mohammad’s case, and more generally treat people subject to its decisions with basic humanity."

The 241 lives that turned into a fireball included 169 Indian nationals, 53 British, 1 Canadian, and 7 Portuguese.

With inputs from agencies