The International Court of Justice (ICJ,) on the 17th of July, ordered the Pakistan Government to review the death sentence given to Kulbhushan Jadhav.
The ICJ said Jadhav’s death sentence “should remain suspended until Pakistan effectively reviews and reconsiders the conviction and sentence.”
Kulbhushan Jadhav is a retired India Navy officer, who, on the 3rd of March 2016, was arrested in Pakistan after being accused of espionage.
Later in 2017, a Pakistan military court sentenced him to death. However, India took the issue to the ICJ and demanded the annulment of the death sentence.
On the 17th of July, the ICJ heard the case and ordered the Pakistan court to reconsider the verdict. The ICJ said, “A continued stay of execution constitutes an indispensable condition for the effective review and reconsideration of the conviction and sentence of Jadhav.”
The case was reviewed by a bench of 15 judges, where all the judges were in favour of Kulbhushan, except one.
Harish Salve, the advocate representing Kulbhushan Jadhav, was appreciated for his arguments against the lawyer of Pakistan.
While Pakistan Government paid a sum of Rs. 20 crores to its lawyer, Harish Salve, who was representing the Indian Government and Kulbhushan Jadhav, fought the case by taking only Re. 1 as his fee.
The case was a big win for India in legal terms. Prime Minister Narendra Modi took to Twitter and welcomed the verdict of the ICJ, which both the Countries are bound to follow.
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Raveesh Kumar, the Spokesperson of the Foreign Ministry of India, also praised the ICJ’s verdict and said, “We note that the Court has directed that Pakistan is under an obligation to inform Jadhav without further delay of his rights and to provide Indian consular officers access to him…We expect Pakistan to implement the directive immediately.”
The decision of the ICJ, in any case, is said to be the final verdict, which cannot be disobeyed or moved with an appeal.
Stay tuned for further updates.
