‘Can’t Meddle With Foreign Policy’: SC Junks Plea Seeking Directions On Halting Arms Exports To Israel

Israel-Hamas War: The Supreme Court Monday dismissed a plea seeking a direction to the Centre to halt the export of arms and military equipment to Israel which is engaged in bloody war with the Hamas militant group in Gaza since October 7 last year. A three-judge apex court bench headed by Chief Justice D Y Chandrachud said the top court cannot meddle in India’s foreign policy which is domain of the country’s political establishment.

The bench, also comprising of Justices JB Pardiwala and Manoj Misra, noted that Indian firms which export arms and equipment to the Jewish nation might be sued for breach of contractual obligations and hence they cannot be stopped from supplying.

“Can we direct that under the UN’s genocide convention you ban the export to Israel…why this restraint. This is because it impacts the foreign policy and we do not know what the impact will be,” CJI Chandrachud observed.

“We cannot enter into the nation’s foreign policy domain,” he said.

A PIL had been filed by Ashok Kumar Sharma and others through lawyer Prashant Bhushan seeking a direction to the Centre to cancel the  licences and not to grant new ones to Indian firms exporting arms and other military equipment to Israel.

Israel launched military campaign in Gaza after and an unprecedented attack by Hamas killed about 1,200 people in the Jewish state on October 7, 2023. Israel war on Gaza led to killings of thousands of Palestinians, mostly civilians, drawing condemnation from various nations across the world.