Ex-Civil Servants, Academicians Move SC Seeking Halt To India's Arm Supply To Israel

The petition was filed through advocate Prashant Bhushan, submitting that the ongoing export of arms and other military equipment to Israel violates various articles of the Indian Constitution.

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The petition argued that the aid to the Zionist regime may be used in the violation of the Genocide Convention, international humanitarian law, or other peremptory norms of general international law, and asked India must “immediately make every effort to ensure that weapons already delivered to Israel are not used to commit genocide and contribute to acts of genocide.”

The petitioners include retired civil servant and diplomat Mr Ashok Kumar Sharma, retired IAS officer Ms Meena Gupta, retired IFS officer Mr Deb Mukharji, Delhi University retired Professor of “International Relations and Global Politics, Mr Achin Vanaik, Ranchi University visiting professor and economist Mr Jean Drèze, Karnatik classical music activist Mr Thodur Madabusi Krishna, human rights activist and Chairman of the Centre for Equity Studies, Dr Harsh Mander, and the founder member of Mazdoor Kisan Shakti Sangathan (MKSS), Mr Nikhil Dey.

The companies named in the petition include a public sector enterprise under the Ministry of Defense, Munitions India Limited, and other private companies such as Premier Explosives, a Hyderabad-based joint venture, Adani-Elbit Advanced Systems India Ltd, and Adani Defence and Aerospace Ltd, among others. The plea also listed the businesses these companies have been engaged in with Israel, especially since the ongoing war started on October 7. The petition argued the grant of licenses to companies for military exports to Israel is a violation of India’s binding obligations under international law observed the supply “is arbitrary, unreasonable, and unfair, and must be struck down.”

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The plea highlighted that India is bound by various international laws and treaties that obligate India not to supply military weapons to states guilty of war crimes. It further referred to the International Court of Justice’s (ICJ)’s January order, in which the the world court issued provisional measures against Israel for violations of obligations under the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide in Gaza. The direction asked the warring country to halt military action immediately and submit the report as soon as possible. However, Israel continued its offensive, killing over 40,000, including women and children in Gaza, violating all international bodies’ directives to this day.

Moreover, the reports of arms export to Israel had created controversy in India while risking the country’s relationship with Arab countries and Iran. India’s stand by exporting weapons to Israel is also being questioned by the foreign policy experts, noting that the development during the sensitive conflict  is contradictory to the country’s foreign policy and regional stability goals,