Tell Govt to Help Students to Cross Over to Moldova: CJI to AG

The Supreme Court on Thursday asked attorney general KK Venugopal to persuade the Centre to help evacuate Indian students stranded at Ukraine's border with Moldova. A bench of Chief Justice of India NV Ramana and Justices AS Bopanna and Hima Kohli referred the issue to the AG after it was mentioned by senior advocate AM Dar, who said that the students were prevented from crossing over to Moldova.

The CJI empathised with the students but was hesitant to wade into the issue. The government is already doing what it can, the CJI said. "What can we do? Can we ask Russian president Putin to stop the war," the CJI asked. He later changed his mind and told the AG, "please help as you can."

"They are from Odessa, Ukraine, and want to go to Romania from Moldova. The Government of India is operating flights from Hungary and Poland but not from Romania. They are without money, water and it's minus 7 degrees there," Dar said.


The SC asked the AG to appear personally and see if he could help the students. The AG said: "The prime minister has spoken to Russian president Putin and Ukrainian president Zelensky and Indians are being let across the border." The government has also sent a minister to Romania to ensure that the Indians were taken care of, he said. The AG also sought clarity on whether the students had been able to cross the border. Dar said that these students have not been able to reach Romania. The CJI then directed that the papers regarding the students be sent to the AG's office so that he could use his good offices to help the students.