The Supreme Court on March 4 orally suggested to the government to open up online helplines so that parents and families can know the whereabouts of students and Indian nationals making their way out of conflict zones in Ukraine.
“We are concerned... You can keep an online helpline so that parents, families can know where the students are... Some State governments are doing it in their State bhavana... Trying to contact children. You work out something, we are not passing any orders,” Chief Justice of India N.V. Ramana, heading a three-judge Bench, addressed Attorney General K.K. Venugopal, appearing for the Centre.
Mr. Venugopal defensively said the court could be assured that the “government is as concerned as Your Lordships” about the safety and evacuation of Indians coming out of Ukraine.
“Please understand we appreciate what the government is doing but at the same time we are concerned about the anxiety of parents, families of these children,” the Chief Justice responded.
“Your Lordships concern will certainly be taken into account,” Mr. Venugopal said. During the hearing, the CJI explained it was “unfortunate that we have not learnt the lessons from history about human race fighting wars and killing people... I know that conflicts can be resolved... However, here we have no say in that issue... But our anxiety is how to save lives of students and Indians caught in the zone”.
Mr. Venugopal said 17,000 Indians had already been evacuated. He said the government was “tackling the problem” and the remaining students would also be swiftly evacuated.
The top law officer said the Prime Minister had held a meeting with Cabinet Ministers to further pursue the cause of evacuation and ensure that it was completed swiftly.
“The government of India has previous experience... From Kuwait, a lakh of persons were evacuated,” Mr. Venugopal said.
Evacuation of Fatima Ahana
The court acknowledged the efforts made by the government in the successful evacuation of a medical student, Fatima Ahana, and others in her group who were crossing over to Moldova from Ukraine.
Senior advocate A.M. Dhar, the lawyer for Ms. Ahana, a medical student at Odessa in Ukraine, had made an urgent plea before the Supreme Court on Thursday to intervene with the government for their evacuation. Ms. Ahana’s side had said the students were stuck at the Ukraine-Moldova border in freezing cold without food, water or money.
The court had immediately asked Mr. Venugopal to use his good offices and communicate with the government about the students’ plight.
Briefing the court on Friday, Mr. Venugopal said Ms. Ahana and her group were already in Romania, from where they would fly out to reach India on March 4 night.
Mr. Venugopal said he had on March 3 informed P.K. Mishra, Principal Secretary to the Prime Minister, about the court’s concern for the students. Mr. Mishra had in turn reached out to Union Minister Jyotiraditya Scindia, who was present in Romania and in charge of the evacuation operations there. Mr. Scindia and his team had contacted Ms. Ahana on her mobile phone.
“We sincerely thank you for taking personal interest in resolving this issue,” the Chief Justice told Mr. Venugopal. Mr. Dhar also expressed his gratitude to the Attorney General on behalf of the student’s family.
The Bench asked the Attorney General to inform Central government lawyers in the various States to convey to the Chief Justices of High Courts not to entertain similar petitions as the Supreme Court was already seized of the issue.
The court listed the case for hearing on March 11.
