Students holding placards, stage a protest against Russias military invasion in Ukraine, in Bengaluru, Thursday, March 3, 2022.
Highlights
- SC said it has sympathies with the students in war-torn Ukraine
- India has been evacuating its citizens through special flights from Ukraine's western neighbours
- Four Ministers have gone to Ukraine's western neighbours to facilitate the evacuation of Indians
The Supreme Court on Thursday urged Attorney General KK Venugopal to use his office to help the Indian students who are stranded in Ukraine amid the Russian invasion. The SC said this when the AG was appearing in another matter. Notably, a petition seeking urgent evacuation of Indian students was mentioned before the CJI earlier today morning.
A bench headed by Chief Justice NV Ramana took note of the submissions of a lawyer that several students are stuck near the Romanian border in freezing cold and the government is not running flights from Romania.
"Flights are being operated from Poland and Hungary and not from Romania. The students, which also included many girls, are stuck without any facility," the lawyer told the bench, also comprising Justices AS Bopanna and Hima Kohli.
The bench said it has sympathies with the students in Ukraine and assured that it will seek the Attorney General's view in the matter.
"We sympathise with the students, we are feeling very bad. But can we direct Russia's President Putin to stop the war?" Justice Ramana said.
The CJI then told AG that "there are thousands of students like this but some have come here... we can't say no, please use your good offices and do something."
The AG asked if the students, in respect of whom the petition has been filed, have crossed the Ukraine border. Senior Advocate AM Dar, appearing for the petitioners, submitted that they haven't crossed. "Government of India has sent a Minister to Romania to make sure once they cross they come back. So I want to know what's the problem," the AG submitted.
"They haven't crossed as yet, where they are... it is in Ukraine, they weren't allowed to travel, that's the problem," Dar said.
The CJI asked the counsel to give a copy of the petition to the AG. "Please look and see if you can help," the CJI told the AG.
The AG said that Prime Minister Narendra Modi has spoken to both Russian President Vladimir Putin and Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelensky. He added that the government has sent Ministers to countries that share land borders with Ukraine.
India has been evacuating its citizens through special flights from Ukraine's western neighbours such as Romania, Hungary and Poland as the Ukrainian airspace has been shut since February 24 due to the Russian military offensive.
Four Union Ministers have gone to Ukraine's western neighbours to facilitate the evacuation of Indian nationals. Hardeep Singh Puri is in Hungary, Jyotiraditya Scindia is in Romania, Kiren Rijiju is in Slovakia and V K Singh is in Poland.
