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Synopsis

The Supreme Court has today dismissed a petition seeking to cancel any existing licences/permissions and halt the grant of new licences/permissions, to various companies in India exporting arms and other military equipment to Israel, during Israel’s war in Gaza.

The top court bench of Chief Justice of India DY Chandrachud along with Justices JB Pardiwala and Manoj Mishra said it cannot enter into arena of the nation's foreign policy.

The authority and jurisdiction for engagement in foreign affairs is vested with the Union Government under Article 162 of the Constitution, the bench added.

Filed through Advocate Prashant Bhushan, the petition cited International Court of Justice's (ICJ) recent decision dated 26th January 2024, whereby it ordered provisional measures against Israel for violations in the Gaza Strip of obligations under the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide.

On this the court said, the International Court of Justice (ICJ) has not specifically labelled Israel's actions as genocide.

"The provisional measures include immediate military halt to all killings and destruction that is being perpetrated by Israel on the Palestinian people. In the light of this judgment United Nations experts released a statement warning against the transfer of weapons and military ammunition to Israel which may constitute serious violation of human rights and international humanitarian laws and risk state complicity in international crimes, possibly including genocide...", the plea added.

It has been further stated that India is obligated under the Genocide Convention (which India has signed and ratified) to take all measures within its power to prevent genocide and therefore cannot export any military equipment or weapons to Israel when there is a serious risk these weapons might be used to commit war crimes. 

"Having voted in favour of a UN resolution on an immediate ceasefire in Gaza in December 2023, India’s abstention from voting on a resolution calling for ceasefire and an arms embargo on Israel in April 2024, raises serious questions regarding India’s complicity in aiding the war despite the ICJ ruling on genocide. This is coupled with credible reports and publicly available records that Indian authorities have granted licenses for the export of arms to various companies including a public sector company, for the export of munitions to Israel, after the war began, and even after the ICJ ruling on genocide by Israel", the plea adds.

It has thus been prayed that India should immediately suspend its aid to Israel, in particular its military assistance including military equipment, in so far as this aid may be used in the violation of the Genocide Convention, international humanitarian law or other peremptory norms of general international law.

India must immediately make every effort to ensure that weapons already delivered to Israel are not used to commit genocide, contribute to acts of genocide or are used in such a way as to violate international humanitarian law, court has further been told.

Case Title: ASHOK KUMAR SHARMA & ORS. vs. UNION OF INDIA