A bench of Chief Justice of India DY Chandrachud, Justice Pardiwala and Justice Misra dismissed a plea moved by a group of academics and ex-bureaucrats seeking to stop India’s military exports and aid to Israel. The writ was filed under Article 32 of the constitution, it seeked to cancel/revoke any existing licence/permission and also stop the granting of new licences/permission for export of arms and military equipment to Israel. The petitioner argued that Isreal is committing genocide in Gaza which is in violation of Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of Crime of Genocide.
However, the court dismissed the petition on the ground that prohibiting the government of foreign trade with any country is a matter to be decided solely by the Government and the judiciary can not take part in this. This comes under Article 162 of the Constitution. The court also added that even if they had the power to grant such relief they would have to examine the merits of the allegations of genocide against Isreal, which is not at all in the jurisdiction of Indian Judiciary.
The CJI said "How can the Court adopt this kind of jurisdiction? We can't tell the Government that you shall not export to a particular country or cancel the licences of companies exporting arms to that country. It is a matter of foreign policy which is to be handled by the Government. "How can the Court tell the Government that there should not be exports of arms to a country? Where does the Court get that sort of power? National self-interest has to be evaluated by the government”
The counsel for the petitioner submitted that this is a case where the national policy is against the constitution and the law, the court can interfere. They submitted that India is a signatory to the 1948 genocide convention, and sending arms to Isreal will be abetting genocide. However, the court said that the petitioners are not factoring in the geopolitical condition and what impact such relief would have on India. The court also said the petitioners should see if this relief is granted then it would make Indian Companies working with Israel vulnerable to legal issues.
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