New Delhi, March 4
The Centre on Friday told the Supreme Court that 17,000 stranded Indian students have been evacuated so far from Ukraine amid the Russian invasion and the rest were in the process of being rescued.
Attorney General KK Venugopal—who was asked by the top court on Thursday to talk to the Government to help medical students from near the Romania border in Ukraine – led by CJI NV Ramana petitioner Fathima Ahana and students would land in India tonight. He, however, said approximately 7,000 Indian students were still there.
“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,” the Bench noted.
Asking the Centre to consider setting up a “helpline” for the parents and families of stranded students in Ukraine, the top court fixed the matter for further hearing on next Friday.
The Bench made it clear that high courts should not hear petitions on evacuation of students from Ukraine to avoid multiplicity of litigation as it was already dealing with the issue.
Venugopal told the Bench that he contacted PK Mishra, Principal Secretary to the Prime Minister on Thursday about Ahana who was unable to cross over to Romania from Ukraine and Mishra communicated the message along with Ahana’s number to Union Minister Jyotiraditya Scindia – who is there in Romania to coordinate evacuation of Indian students from Ukraine via Romania.
“She (Ahana) is now in Romania…I expect that she and the persons accompanying her, the other college students, will come back by tonight,” Venugopal told the Bench.
“Attorney General, we sincerely thank you very much for the efforts which you made by taking personal interest in this matter,” the CJI told Venugopal.
During the hearing, the Bench said, “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.”
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