Indian students stranded in Ukraine, beaten up and tortured at the Polish border
Amid Ukraine-Russia War, Indian Students and Citizens were Physically harassed at the Poland Border of Ukraine by the Ukrainian Army.
Several Indian students fleeing Ukraine have alleged that they were harassed, beaten by the Ukrainian guards at the Poland border and were not allowed to cross over.
In one of the videos shot during nighttime, a student wheeling his suitcase behind him is kicked by a guard in uniform. It is not clear if the student is Indian but several other students who have been camping at the Poland-Ukraine border have alleged that Indian students have been harassed.
"Situation is getting worse day by day. What is happening is they are torturing us. Indian students are being tortured. They are not allowing us to cross over to Poland. Even women students are being harassed. They are being pulled by their hair and hit with rods. Some women students have suffered fractures and injuries," Mansi Chaudhary, an Indian student, told NDTV from her car in Ukraine.
On Monday, Congress MP Rahul Gandhi posted a video on Twitter where armed men could be seen assaulting people at what appears to be a border post. In the widely shared video, women could be heard screaming and a man saying in Hindi: “See, how they are beating up women. ”My heart goes out to the Indian students suffering such violence and their family watching these videos,” Gandhi wrote on Twitter. He urged the central government to make public a detailed evacuation plan.
Relatives and friends of those stuck in Ukraine have also shared accounts of students who walked for hours to reach the Ukraine-Poland border, only to be told that they will not be allowed to cross over. After Ukraine closed its airspace for civilian aircraft following the attack from Russia, India is looking to evacuate its citizens through land routes. So far, India’s evacuation plan has been to make the citizens cross over to Ukraine’s neighbouring countries Poland, Hungary, Romania and Slovakia and then fly them to India.
The Ministry of External Affairs spokesperson, Arindam Bagchi, said this evening that a Twitter handle has been set up to assist in the evacuation of Indians from Ukraine under 'Operation Ganga'. The Twitter account is called OpGanga Helpline and lists helpline numbers in Hungary, Poland, Romania, Slovak Republic – all nations which share a border with Ukraine.
There are still around 16,000 Indian students still stranded in Ukraine. Many have made desperate appeals for help, sharing photos and videos on social media from underground bunkers, and bomb shelters, where they have been sheltering from Russian bombs and missiles.
Is this the way to treat refugees from other countries? It will only hamper Ukraine’s relations with India. No one wants animosity between countries in such alarming times.
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