The International Court of Justice (ICJ) is expected to pronounce its verdict on July 17 in the case relating to Indian national Kulbhushan Jadhav, who is on death row in Pakistan, official sources said on Thursday.
Jadhav, a 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 in May 2017 against Pakistan for denying consular access to Jadhav. India had also challenged the “farcical” trial by the military court of Pakistan against the 48-year-old. The ICJ on May 18, 2017 had restrained Pakistan from executing Jadhav till the adjudication of the case.
The International Court held a four-day public hearing of the case in February during which both India and Pakistan submitted their detailed pleas and responses.
India based its case on two broad issues- the breach of the Vienna Convention on Consular Access and the process of resolution. India also urged the ICJ to annul Jadhav’s death sentence and order his immediate release, saying the verdict by a Pakistani military court was based on a “farcical” case and it failed to satisfy even the minimum standards of due process.
Pakistan on its part insisted that the Indian Navy officer was a “spy” and not a businessman. They claimed that its security forces arrested Jadhav from the Balochistan province on March 3, 2016 after he reportedly entered from Iran
However, India maintained that Jadhav was kidnapped from Iran where he had business interests after retiring from the Navy. Jadhav’s sentencing had evoked a sharp reaction in India
Pakistan had rejected India’s plea for consular access to Jadhav at the ICJ, claiming that New Delhi wanted to get information gathered by its “spy”. However, Pakistan facilitated a meeting between Jadhav with his mother and wife in Islamabad on December 25, 2017.
