Kulbhushan Jadhav Gets Right to Appeal Against Death Penalty as Pakistan Passes Bill As Per ICJ Ruling

Pakistan on Wednesday passed a bill at a Parliament joint session to give death-row prisoner Kulbhushan Jadhav the right to appeal against his death sentence as per the decision of 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 had approached the ICJ against Pakistan for denial of consular access to Jadhav and challenging the death sentence.

Pakistan had in June this year adopted a bill to give the right of appeal to Jadhav as per the ICJ ruling. But India had at the time asked Pakistan to address the “shortcomings" in the bill, saying the proposed law does not create a mechanism to reconsider it as mandated by the ICJ.

India had said the Review and Reconsideration Bill 2020 does not create a mechanism to facilitate effective review and reconsideration of Jadhav’s case as mandated by the judgement of the ICJ and the municipal courts cannot be the arbiter of whether a state has fulfilled its obligations in international law.

“The bill codifies into law the earlier Ordinance – with all its shortcomings. It does not create a machinery to facilitate effective review and reconsideration of Jadhav’s case, as mandated by the judgement of the International Court of Justice," MEA spokesperson Arindam Bagchi had said.

He had added that the ordinance, now the bill, invites the municipal courts in Pakistan to decide whether or not any prejudice has been caused to Jadhav on account of the failure to provide consular access. “This is clearly a breach of the basic tenet that municipal courts cannot be the arbiter of whether a State has fulfilled its obligations in international law. Not only this, it further invites the municipal court to sit in appeal, as it were, over the judgement of the International Court of Justice," Bagchi had said.

“We call upon Pakistan to take appropriate steps to address the shortcomings in the bill and to comply with the judgement of the ICJ in letter and spirit," the MEA had asserted.

(With PTI inputs)

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