PIL filed in Supreme Court to evacuate vulnerable Indian citizens from USA amid COVID-19 pandemic

A PIL has been filed in the Supreme Court seeking a direction to the Centre to evacuate vulnerable Indian citizens in the United States of America amid the COVID-19 pandemic..The petition filed by Senior Advocate Vibha Datta Makhija seeks a direction to the Centre to operationalise special airplane carriers to reptariate distressed and vulnerable Indian citizens in the USA. India had imposed a blanket ban on all inbound commercial carriers since March 22, as a measure to contain the spread of COVID-19..The plea seeks enforcement of Article 21 rights of the Indian citizens in the USA. While applauding the government's actions taken to contain the spread of the contagion, the petition states that a blanket ban on all inbound carriers has aggravated the distress of those Indian citizens stranded in the United States..The petitioner has sought to clarify that while no direction on the government's policy decision to close the airspace is sought, the prayer is limited to evacuate the Indian citizens "on a case to case basis who have approached the various consulates through the helpline or otherwise."."The petitioners are seeking the indulgence for the Government to consider and factor in the plight of its citizens stranded in foreign jurisdictions, and for this Hon'ble Court to compel the government to perform its constitutional, and domestic and international legal duties in not acting arbitrary and discriminatorily against one section of its citizens."Petition filed in Supreme Court.Also suggested is a direction to the government to assess high-risk and crises zones to ascertain the vulnerability of Indian citizens stranded in the USA, and for their evacuation to relatively safer zones..Further, it is suggested that those persons whose visas have expired or whose visas are in grace period, be evacuated earlier. Subsequently, the evacuated persons are to be placed in mandatory quarantine and subject to other such protocols by the government to contain the spread of the contagion, the petition states..The plea points out that international laws do not impede the Indian government from carrying out evacuation in a phased manner. It adds that it is the obligation on every country to evacuate its citizens from foreign jurisdictions amid a humanitarian crisis..Moreover, that evacuation of Indian citizens from COVID-19 hotspots such as Wuhan, Italy, or Iran and not from places like the USA is discriminatory given that the USA has now become one of the hotspots for the deadly virus, the plea states.Further, it is submitted that Sections 35 and 36 of the Disaster Management Act mandate for the governemnt to evacuate all its citizens from foreign jurisdictions..The petition is filed through Advocate Jaikriti Jadeja..Similar petitions have been filed seeking evacuation of Indian citizens from the United Kingdom, the Gulf, and for an elderly Indian citizen stranded in Japan at a time when the world is grappling with the Coronavirus outbreak..Rescue Indian Migrant Workers stranded in Gulf countries as they are denied COVID-19 treatment, facilities: Plea in Supreme Court.[COVID-19 Lockdown] Supreme Court seeks Centre's response on plea to evacuate Indian students stranded in the UK