Kulbhushan Jadhav Case:
Pakistan’s National Assembly has passed the ICJ (Review and Re-consideration) Bill, 2020 to provide the right of appeal to death-row prisoner Kulbhushan Jadhav.
- The Bill is aimed at allowing Jadhav to have consular access in line with the International Court of Justice (ICJ)
- Jadhav, a 51-year-old retired Indian Navy officer, was sentenced to death by a Pakistani military court on charges of espionage and terrorism in April 2017.
- India approached the ICJ against Pakistan for denial of consular access to Jadhav and challenging the death sentence.
- The Hague-based ICJ had ruled in July 2019 that Pakistan must undertake an “effective review and reconsideration” of the conviction and sentence of Jadhav and also to grant consular access to India without further delay.
Key observations made by the ICJ:
- Islamabad has violated Article 36 of the Vienna Convention of Consular Relations, 1963, by not informing India about Jadhav’s arrest immediately after Pakistan Army had taken him into custody.
- India had been deprived of ‘right to communicate with and have access to Jadhav, to visit him in detention, and to arrange for his legal representation.
