17K students evacuated, 7K still in Ukraine: Centre to Supreme Court

New Delhi, March 4

The Centre on Friday told the Supreme Court that 17,000 stranded Indian students were evacuated till Friday morning from Ukraine 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, told the court that petitioner Fathima Ahana and other students would land in India tonight. He, however, said around 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 the 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.