Chief Justice Ramana to petitioner: ‘Can I ask Putin to stop war’

“Can I give directions to President of Russia to stop the war,” said Chief Justice of India NV Ramana while hearing a plea on Thursday (March 3) to rescue more than 200 Indian students stranded on the borders of Ukraine.

CJI Ramana was referring to a social media post that asked him what he is doing to rescue Indians caught in the war between Russia and Ukraine. “On social media, I saw some video saying what is the CJI doing! Can I give directions to President of Russia to stop the war,” the Chief Justice said.

“What can we do in this matter? Tomorrow, you will ask us to issue orders to Putin…Can we ask Putin to stop the war? We have full sympathy and concern with the students. The government of India is doing its job,” CJI Ramana said. Justices A S Bopanna and Hima Kohli too were part of the SC bench that was hearing the matter.

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The family of medical student, Fathima Ahana, stuck in Ukraine, filed by the plea in the apex court saying that about 250 students are stuck at the Moldova-Romania border and are not getting help from the Government of India. The petitioner said these students are short of food and water for the last week or so and are not getting permission to cross into Romania. The petitioner asked for the Supreme Court’s intervention to “secure permission for the Petitioner to cross the check point in Moldova from Ukraine en route to Romania for boarding the Air India evacuation flight”.

The judges asked Attorney General K K Venugopal to make best possible efforts to bring back Indian medical students stranded near the Romania border.

Venugopal told the court that four senior Union ministers are stationed in neighbouring countries of Ukraine to ensure Indian students get out of Ukraine safely.