PIL in Supreme Court seeks direction to Centre to halt export of arms, military equipment to Israel

New Delhi: A PIL has been filed in the Supreme Court seeking a direction to the Centre to cancel licences and not to grant new ones to Indian firms exporting arms and other military equipments to Israel, which is fighting a war in Gaza.

The PIL, filed through lawyer Prashant Bhushan, has made the union ministry of defence a party, and said, "India is bound by various international laws and treaties that obligate 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 plea filed by 11 people, including Ashok Kumar Sharma, a resident of Noida, said the supply of military equipments to Israel by companies, including a public sector enterprise, under the MoD violates India’s obligations under international law coupled with Articles 14 and 21 of the Constitution.

"Issue a writ of mandamus or any other appropriate writ or direction to the respondents, Union of India, through its various organs, to cancel any existing licences and halt the grant of new licences/permissions, to various companies in India, for export of arms and other military equipment to Israel...," the plea said.

The International Court of Justice (ICJ) on January 26 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.

"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," it said.

"India is bound by various international laws and treaties that obligate 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,” it said.

The plea also referred to a detailed judgement of July 19 of the ICJ on the legal consequences, arising from the policies and practices of Israel in Palestinian territory.

The PIL also referred to apex court’s judgements, and said India is under an obligation to interpret domestic law in the light of the obligations under the conventions and treaties that it has both signed and ratified.

Israel's war on Gaza has led to killings of thousands of Palestinians. Prior to this, in an unprecedented attack, Hamas gunmen stormed across Gaza's border into Israel and killed about 1,200 people on the morning of October 7, 2023.