Petitions of Ukraine-returned medical students to be heard by Supreme Court tomorrow, August 26

The petitions filed by the Indian medical students who returned from Ukraine will be heard in the Supreme Court tomorrow, August 26. The main demand of the petition is that students be accommodated in Indian medical colleges so that they can complete their education and clinical training.

The case will be heard by Justice Hemant Gupta, who, it may be noted, also heard the cases filed by Indian students from Chinese medical universities. Justice Vikram Nath will also preside over the hearing. The petitions have been filed separately by eight different states, but have been bunched to be heard at a time tomorrow.

Sonia Lumba, a parent of an Ukraine-returnee from Delhi said, “There are eight petitions from different states.” Students and associations from the states of Gujarat, Kerala, Chhattisgarh, Rajasthan, Punjab and Odisha are some of the petitioners. They will be represented by their separate counsels at the apex court. “Our counsel is Ravi Sikri,” Sonia informed.

The Ukraine-returned students have been suffering for a very long time because of the ongoing Russia-Ukraine war, which forced them to return to India and has prevented them from going back. As a result of this, they were unable to pursue their medical education and training. And they have been demanding to be accommodated in Indian medical colleges since.

The Supreme Court had earlier this year asked the National Medical Commission (NMC) to chalk out some measures to help these students to complete their courses and training. But the NMC failed to do so. However, it stated that accommodating them in Indian colleges was not possible.

The students resorted to protesting against this. A hunger strike was staged by many students at Jantar Mantar last month. And then on August 3, a recommendation was submitted to the Lok Sabha by the standing committee of External Affairs, which mentioned that students should be accommodated in the Indian colleges in view of their situation.

But there have been no updates on the same. Students and parents are hoping for a favourable judgement, but Sonia says, “I do not think the verdict will come tomorrow. I strongly feel that there will be an adjournment.”

Here is the list of the case numbers, regarding the Ukraine students, listed to be heard tomorrow: No 607/2022, 618/2022, 620/2022, 630/2022, 631/2022, 587/2022 625/2022 and 667/2022. The petitioners from their respective states are Archita, Supriya Kumari, Patel Jay, Pratik Dhal, Naveen Rundla, Aparna Girish, Shalini Chauhan and the All Kerala Ukraine Medical Students and Parents Association. 

Vineet Bhagat, Aishwarya Sinha, Sudarsh Menon, Purnima Krishna, R Sathish and Vikalp Mudgal are the other counsels who will represent their respective petitioners.