The Supreme Court on Friday took note of the Centre's submission that it has so far evacuated 17,000 stranded Indian students from the war zone in Ukraine, saying it appreciated the efforts but was concerned about the anxiety of people.
The top court asked the Centre to consider setting up an “online helpline” for the parents and families of stranded students in Ukraine and to convey to the high courts not to take up the issue pertaining to the evacuation of students to avoid multiplicity of litigation.
A bench headed by Chief Justice N V Ramana took note of the submission of Attorney General K K Venugopal that 17,000 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 Lordships”. “We 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 negotiations.
“It is unfortunate we haven't 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 said.
Venugopal, 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 tonight.
The 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 border.
“The 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 tonight.”
“Attorney General, we sincerely thank you very much for the efforts which you made by taking personal interest in this matter,” the CJI said.