THE RELEVANCE OF I.C.J. IN THE BACKDROP OF KULBHUSHAN JADHAV CASE

Abstract

Kulbhushan Sudhir Jadhav was a former Indian naval officer. He was caught by Pakistani security agencies and imprisoned there. He was mainly charged for an offence of espionage and other charges like facilitating terrorism etc. His trial was held in a Pakistani Military Court where he was accorded death sentence in the month of April, 2018. His trial was conducted exparte as Jadhav was not provided any opportunity to put up any defence in his favour. He was presented as an alleged Indian spy and a confession was extracted in custody before a magistrate. The most remarkable thing in this series of events was that Jadhav was not accorded any consular access during this period. Though Indian Government made sixteen requests to Pakistan Government in this regard, yet all such requests fell on deaf ears of Pakistani authorities; Ultimately, seeing the danger of Kulbhushan Jadhav's imminent execution, the Indian Government decided to knock the doors of the International Court of Justice on the ground that Pakistan has violated the provisions of Article 36 of the Vienna Convention on Consular Relations, 1963. The ICJ responded to India's request and after hearing both sides granted a reprieve to India, and the Jadhav both. The case was fixed for final hearing which has just concluded in The Hague, where the ICJ is situated. This paper examines in depth about the India's stance in ICJ and the relevance of ICJ in such cases in the light of some previous cases decided by the Court.