'Forced to fight in war': Lawyer moves Madras HC to secure release of Cuddalore student allegedly detained in Russia

CHENNAI: A lawyer has moved the Madras high court seeking a direction to the Indian External Affairs Ministry to take necessary steps to secure the release of Kishore Saravanan, a Cuddalore native, allegedly held illegally in Russia and facing possible deployment to the Ukraine war front.Moving the plea as a habeas corpus petition, advocate A P Suryaprakasam contended that Kishore, who went to Russia to study medicine, was forced to fight in the war of a foreign country. If he is not secured by the Indian govt, his life may be in grave danger.According to the lawyer, on July 21, the English news daily, The Times of India, published a report about the plight of the student from Tamil Nadu fighting the war on behalf of the Russian govt.

The parents of Kishore addressed a press meet in which they stated that their son, a medical student in Russia, informed them over the phone that he was forced to fight in the war under duress and is kept in illegal detention, he said.Therefore, as a concerned citizen, the advocate made a representation dated July 21 to the Union External Affairs Ministry, the Tamil Nadu Home Ministry, and the DGP of Tamil Nadu Police, requesting them to secure the freedom of the unfortunate student, he said.

Since there was no response from either the Union or the state govts, the petitioner moved the high court. The plea is likely to be taken up for hearing in a day or two by a division bench comprising Justice M S Ramesh and Justice V Lakshminarayanan.