New Delhi: It has been a week since Indian student Harjot Singh was shot at multiple times while trying to escape from war-hit Ukraine’s capital Kyiv in a shared taxi with three other foreign nationals.
When he gained consciousness three days after the incident, which took place on 27 February, the 31-year-old found himself at Kyiv Regional Clinical Hospital, after which he called his parents, who are based in Delhi.
Harjot and his family are desperately seeking his evacuation from the warzone as he remains bedridden due to fractures on both his legs. However, they claimed that the embassy has asked him to reach the border on his own so he can be evacuated and brought back to India.
“I am alive, I was shot, but I am out of danger. The doctors are looking after me here,” Harjot told his parents over a WhatsApp call on 2 March.
His family said they have been living a nightmare ever since, as their countless visits to the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) office seeking Harjot’s return to India, have yielded nothing.
At their home in Chhatarpur, Harjot’s parents Kesar Singh and Prakash Kaur told ThePrint Friday that they felt extremely discouraged by the “blatant apathy” of the Indian government, and the lack of clarity on how their son would return to India safely.
Kesar Singh, 66, who runs a shop that sells plastic cups and plates, said Harjot can only move around by wheelchair.
“He told me that he was shot multiple times. One bullet entered his chest through his right armpit, while two struck his thigh. This is the worst nightmare for any parent. He said that the doctors have kept him alive and he is out of danger. He called the embassy people but they are asking him to somehow make it to the border. How will he do that if he has broken legs?” he added.
The parents said they have submitted all relevant documents to MEA officials, but no one from the ministry has contacted their son yet. Harjot, who had enrolled at Kyiv’s European Language School last year to study the Russian language in hopes of better career prospects, narrated a similar experience to ThePrint over phone, saying that Indian embassy officials “showed no sympathy”, and kept telling him to somehow get to the border.
On Friday, MEA spokesperson Arindam Bagchi said at a media briefing that the ministry was aware of the case.
“Obviously our embassy is in close touch with them. He is currently in I think, hospital in Kiev. We’re not sure exactly where. We are trying to ascertain, as I said, his exact medical status, including his readiness to be able to move. I understand he is injured. I’m happy to share that the government of India will be sharing the medical costs of his treatment,” he said.
However, Bagchi added: ”But we should also be realistic that…violence and conflict is happening in that place. We are trying to see if embassy representatives could go, but it’s not so easy re-entering the city. So we do have those constraints, but as I said, we are in touch with them and we hope him and others who may just have been left behind somewhere, we are able to get out safely at the appropriate time. For the moment I think he’s safe, he’s in hospital, he’s been looked after and priority is to get the medical attention that he requires. So we are trying to get some more details on that.”
Minister of State for Civil Aviation V K Singh too had mentioned that a student had been shot at and injured at Kyiv, while he was in Poland the same day, facilitating evacuation of Indian students. This came two days after Foreign Secretary Harsh Vardhan Shringla said that all Indian nationals have left Kyiv.
Two Indian students have died so far amid Russia’s war on Ukraine — one due to shelling, and another from a brain stroke.
Also Read: ‘Gunmen asked why don’t you join our fight’: Indian students recall nightmare of exiting Ukraine
What transpired on 27 February
On 27 February, three days after Russian President Vladimir Putin announced a military operation in Ukraine, Harjot attempted to board a train to Lviv, a Ukrainian city located around 70 km from the Polish border.
After Ukrainian forces stopped him from boarding a train, he decided to leave the city with three other foreign nationals by a shared taxi, Harjot said. While crossing the city, they were caught in gunfire.
“I was supposed to board a train on 27 February towards the border but the Ukrainian forces did not allow us. They said only Ukrainians can board the train and asked us to find other ways to reach our locations. I found three other foreign nationals who were also heading in the same direction and we decided to split the $1000 fare. While we were crossing the city, we were attacked and I was shot at multiple times,” he told ThePrint over phone from the Kyiv hospital where he is admitted.
“I was conscious for a while and lay in excruciating pain, but realised that if I get up I will be shot again. When I woke up next I was in a hospital ward,” he said, adding that the doctors told him about his injuries.
Harjot said that the foreign nationals he was travelling with had also sustained injuries in the gunfire, but he had no clue of their whereabouts.
‘Told government officials we will pay for his return’
Back in Delhi’s Chhatarpur, Harjot’s family members said they had approached the MEA office several times seeking support or more information on his health.
The student’s elder brother Prabhjot told ThePrint: “They kept offering us tea and that is it. We have submitted Harjot’s documents including his contact details, but till now they have not approached him.”
“They kept comparing him with other students, saying how is my brother more special than the other students, that we should not expect such special treatment. We told them that we will pay all his expenses, the government has to do nothing but they showed no support,” he added.
Being general secretary of the local gurdwara for close to 22 years, Harjot’s father got help from some Sikh organisations like Khalsa Aid.
“If not for Khalsa Aid, no one would have known about my son’s condition. They mobilised support and continue to exert pressure on the government to rescue my son,” said Kesar Singh.
Harjot too said he got no help from embassy officials. Asked how he contacted them, he said he called multiple numbers circulated on WhatsApp groups of Indian students stranded in Ukraine.
“The Indian embassy officials left Kyiv and set up base at Lviv. I was asked to reach near the borders, but when I said I could not and told them about my condition, they did not show any sympathy. I had to speak with almost all officers from the embassy and they assured me nothing. They constantly asked me to reach the border somehow. I got a second life, I could have died, but that did not seem to go through to them,” he told ThePrint over phone.
‘Went to Ukraine with a dream to make our lives better’
After completing his BSc degree from Punjab Technical University, Harjot — who has two siblings, a brother and sister — got admission in a course on the Russian language at Kyiv’s European Language School last year. His parents, encouraged by the idea of a better standard of living, decided to send their youngest child to Ukraine.
“Ukraine is fairly cheaper and my son has a flair for languages. He learnt so much and that made us proud. Just the way I migrated from Punjab to Delhi in search of a better life, my son too found hope in Ukraine, thinking he will make our lives better. Look, he gave me a smartphone before leaving,” Kesar Singh said.
Showing pictures from 12 July last year, Prabhjot recounted the last few minutes he spent with Harjot at the airport when the latter was leaving for Kyiv. “We were so happy that he was leaving for Kyiv, he made us proud. We clicked many pictures that day. Thinking about it in hindsight, I could never have imagined that a day like this would come,” he said.
Wiping away tears, Harjot’s mother Prakash said: “I was not ready for this.”
“I was waiting to plan a Punjabi wedding for him and his girlfriend, who is from Poland. My last happy memory is of speaking with his girlfriend. She said she wanted to get married our way. Even she is so upset about this. Despite living next door, she could not help him. The area has become dangerous,” she added.
On Friday morning, Prakash accompanied her husband on yet another visit to the MEA office hoping for an update on her son’s return. All she hopes for is that Harjot comes home safe, she said.
(Edited by Gitanjali Das)
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