As many as eleven former bureaucrats, activists and prominent academicians of the country moved the Supreme Court on Wednesday seeking to halt the export of arms to Israel amid its alleged genocide in Gaza. The writ petition filed under Article 32 has sought to immediately suspend India’s military aid to Israel and make sure that the weapons already delivered to the country are not used by it to “commit genocide” in Gaza. “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,” the petition said. The petition filed through advocate Prashant Bhushan stated that the ongoing export of military equipment and weapons to Israel is in violation of Articles 14 and 21 read with Article 51(c) (foster respect for international law and treaty obligations in the dealings of organised peoples with one another of the Indian Constitution).The petition noted that Article 21 is available to non-citizens and state action of exporting arms and ammunition could directly aid and abet the death of Palestinians during the ongoing war with Israel, and this comes under the purview of judicial review of the Supreme Court.The petition stated that at least three companies in India have been granted licenses by the authorities for the export of arms and military equipment to Israel, during the period of its ongoing war in Gaza. These licences have been obtained from either the Directorate General of Foreign Trade (DGFT) or the Department of Defence Production (DDP) authorize export of arms and munitions for dual use and specifically for military purposes.”In January 2024, Munition India Ltd. a public sector enterprise under the Ministry of Defence – has been permitted to ship its products to Israel. In April the company again applied to export the same product under repeat order from Israel. The approval of the same is under consideration by licensing authorities. The application was made to DGFTs Special Chemicals, Organisms, Materials, Equipment and Technologies (SCOMET) division, which authorizes licences for export of arms and munitions that come under the dual-use category,” the petition read.
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