The petition filed by 11 people, including Noida resident Ashok Kumar Sharma, claims that the supply of military equipment to Israel by companies, including a public sector company (Photo: Shutterstock)
A PIL has been filed in the Supreme Court seeking a direction to the central government to cancel licences and not grant new ones to Indian companies exporting arms and other military equipment to Israel, which is waging war in Gaza.
The PIL, filed through advocate Prashant Bhushan, has made the Union Defence Ministry a party and says, “India is bound by various international laws and treaties which oblige India not to supply military weapons to states guilty of war crimes as any export could be used in serious violations of international humanitarian law.”
The petition filed by 11 people, including Noida resident Ashok Kumar Sharma, said the supply of military equipment to Israel by companies, including a public sector undertaking, under the Ministry of Defence violates India’s obligations under international law, along with Articles 14 and 21 of the Constitution.
“To issue a writ of mandamus or any other appropriate order or direction to the respondents, the Union of India, through its various organs, to cancel all existing licenses and to stop the grant of new licenses/permits to various Indian companies for export of arms and other military equipment to Israel…” the petition said.
The International Court of Justice (ICJ), in a recent decision of January 26, 2024, ordered provisional measures against Israel for violations in the Gaza Strip of the obligations arising from the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide.
“The interim measures include an immediate military cessation of all ongoing killings and destruction by Israel against the Palestinian people. In light of this ruling, UN experts issued a statement warning against the transfer of military weapons and ammunition to Israel, which may constitute a serious violation of human rights and international humanitarian law and pose a risk of State complicity in international crimes, possibly including genocide,” the statement said.
“India is bound by various international laws and treaties that oblige it not to supply military weapons to states guilty of war crimes, as any export could be used to commit serious violations of international humanitarian law,” he said.
Israel’s war on Gaza has resulted in the deaths of thousands of Palestinians. Prior to this, in an unprecedented attack, Hamas gunmen stormed across the Gaza border into Israel and killed around 1,200 people on the morning of October 7, 2023.
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First published: September 4, 2024 | 12:25 pm IS
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