Supreme Court appreciates Centre for evacuating Indians from Ukraine

The Supreme Court Friday took note of the Centres submission that it has so far evacuated 17000 stranded Indian students from the war zone in Ukraine saying it appreciated the efforts but was concerned about the anxiety of peopleThe top court asked the Centre to consider setting up an online helpline for the parents and families of stranded students in Ukraine and conveyed to the high courts not to take up the issue pertaining to the evacuation of students to avoid multiplicity of litigationA bench headed by Chief Justice N V Ramana took note of the submission of Attorney General K K Venugopal that 17000 stranded Indian students have been evacuated and the rest are in the process of being rescued by the government which is as concerned as your LordshipsWe are not saying a single word anything about the efforts which you are taking We appreciate that but at the same time we are also concerned about the anxiety of the people said the bench which also comprised justices A S Bopanna and Hima Kohli At the outset the CJI termed as unfortunate the ongoing war by Russia on Ukraine and said conflicts can be resolved through negotiationsIt is unfortunate we havent learnt lessons from history where the human race has been fighting wars and killing people and all that Conflicts can be resolved through negotiations We have no say in these issues But the anxiety for us is how to save these students the bench saidVenugopal who was asked by the bench to use his good office to help in evacuation of Bengaluru resident Fathima Ahana and several other medical students from near the Romania border in Ukraine gave the good news to the bench that the petitioner student and others would be reaching India tonightThe top most law officer said that he had contacted P K Mishra Principal secretary of the Prime Minister on Thursday about the girl who was unable to cross over to Romania and was stuck on Ukraine side of the borderThe concern was communicated to Shri P K Mishra He communicated that to Shri Scindia Union Minister Jyotiraditya Scindia the person in charge in Romania and the telephone number of Fatima Ahana was also given She is now in Romania he said adding I expect that she and the persons accompanying her the other college students will come back by tonightAttorney General we sincerely thank you very much for the efforts which you made by taking personal interest in this matter the CJI saidOn being asked about the number of students stranded in Ukraine Venugopal said as per morning news approximately 7000 students are left there and 17000 have already been evacuatedHe also referred to a petition filed in the Rajasthan High Court on the issue and said that the Indian government is capable of seeing that these people are evacuated swiftlyAttorney General you can inform your counsel appearing in state high courts that once we are hearing and the Centre is taking steps there is no meaning of every high court entertaining and issuing directions Please bring it to the notice of the high courts that we are seized of the matter it saidThe bench asked the Centre to consider setting up iquestan online helplineiquest for the parents and said that it would not pass any orders and fixed the two pleas for further hearing on next FridayIt also came down on a lawyer who had filed the PIL in his personal capacity saying if you are really sincere and want to do social service then this is not the way of filing a writ petition by using some newspaper cuttings etc You know this is a sensitive situation we cannot say no to anything Please do not take advantage of this and try to get popularity out of this which is your intentionOn Thursday the bench had asked Venugopal to use his good office in helping evacuate some Indian medical students stranded in warravaged Ukraine near the Romania borderIn the plea filed through lawyer Abhay Anand Jena Ahana has sought a direction to the Ministry of External Affairs to secure permission for her and other stranded students to cross the check point in Moldova from Ukraine enroute to Romania for boarding the Air India evacuation flightIt has also sought a direction to the MEA to immediately take effective diplomatic steps and measures for the evacuation of the petitioner and others from Ukraine to IndiaIssue a writ of mandamus or any other writ or 10 directions thereby directing the Respondent to ensure the essential and emergency supplies like medical housing and lodging facilities and supply of food and other essential necessities to the Petitioner it saidAhana a resident of Indiranagar in Banglore is a medical student from National Medical University in Odessa Ukraine since 2017The ongoing RussiaUkraine war has left the life and liberty of the Petitioner in danger who is residing in Ukraine for studies Besides the Petitioner Over 250 Indian students are presently stranded in Ukraine stuck and trapped crying and looking for hope towards the Respondent it saidLawyer Vishal Tiwari who has filed a separate PIL on the issue in his personal capacity has sought a direction to the Centre to take immediate and effective steps for safe return of stranded students and their families from the country under attackAs per reports from Kyiv Russia has stepped up its attack on UkraineThis story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed agencies Midday accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability trustworthiness reliability and data of the text Midday managementmiddaycom reserves the sole right to alter delete or remove without notice the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever