Indian students fleeing the conflict in Ukraine are facing harassment, allegedly due to India's diffident stance on the Russian invasion.
THE WEEK on Sunday obtained an audio clip of a message from an Indian student who reached the Poland border. This girl (identity being withheld) was a native of Uttar Pradesh who was studying in a medical university in Ukraine.
The student claimed she saw very “dirty conditions” on the Poland border. “Ukrainians are taking out their frustrations and aggression on Indians because [Prime Minister Narendra] Modi didn't support Ukraine at the UN.”
On Friday night, India was among three nations at the UN Security Council that abstained during a vote that sought to denounce Russia's invasion of Ukraine.
She claimed the Ukrainians were saying “Your prime minister did not support us, so why should we support you?” She added “They are beating the boys (male students) and harassing the girls.” The student claimed only girl students were being granted visas at the border checkpoint and Ukrainians were continuing to misbehave with them. She said the Indian students were told to go to the Romanian border.
The student said she was returning to her hostel as there was no success in crossing the border and the weather was very cold.
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NDTV had also reported Indian students fleeing Ukraine alleged they were harassed and beaten by Ukrainian border guards and not allowed to cross into Poland.
Live Mint reported about 1,000 Indian students have returned from Ukraine on special Air India flights until Sunday. The government had announced last week that there were around 16,000 Indians in Ukraine.
(With inputs from Arvind Jain)