Coronavirus: SC seeks Centre's response on plea for evacuating Indian pilgrims from Iran

The Supreme Court Friday sought response from the Centre on a plea seeking directions for immediate evacuation of around 500 Indian pilgrims who are stranded in Iran's Qom city due to the coronavirus pandemic.

A bench of Justices D Y Chandrachud and Surya Kant, which heard the matter through video conferencing, issued notice to the Centre on the plea which has also sought a direction to the government to provide adequate medical support to such Indian citizens till their evacuation from Iran.

Iran is one of the countries worst affected by the global pandemic, also called Covid-19, and has reported over 2,000 deaths so far due to coronavirus.

"The contents of the petition under Article 32 of the Constitution indicate that there is an urgent need for humanitarian assistance to be provided to Indian citizens who are stranded in Qom. In order to obviate concern over their well being, we issue notice to the Union of India, returnable on March 30, 2020," the bench noted in its order.

The bench asked solicitor general Tushar Mehta to assist the court and place a status report regarding "steps which have been taken and which the Union of India through the Ministry of External Affairs proposes to undertake to alleviate the hardship which has been faced by these persons."
In the plea, the petitioner has said that several citizens of Ladakh had brought this issue to the notice of the Ministry of External Affairs after which the government took steps but these stranded pilgrims "have not been able to receive proper accommodation or health care."
Referring to the statement given by the foreign affairs minister, the plea said, "various steps were taken and total number of around 389 people were evacuated from Iran which includes students as well."