The International Court of Justice is set to decide Kulbhusan Jadhav’s fate in a case relating to the retired navy officer, whose death sentence has been pronounced by a Pakistani military court over his alleged involvement in terrorism and espionage at the neighbouring country.
The military court served the verdict on the basis of an extracted confession and after a closed trial in April 2017.
The verdict was challenged by India and sharp reaction had come from New Delhi.
Challenging the verdict, India moved to International Court of Justice on May 8, 2017. Questioning that the verdict was egregious violation of the provisions of Vienna Convention by Pakistan and Islamabad repeatedly denying New Delhi’s consular to access Jadhav.
Early this month, the ICJ in a statement said, “A public sitting will take place at 3 pm (6.30 pm as per IST) on July 17 at the Peace Palace in the Hague. During the sitting, top judge of the court Abdulqawi Ahmed Yusuf will read out the verdict.”
A 10-member Bench of the ICJ, set up after World War II to resolve international disputes, on May 18, 2017 had restrained Pakistan from executing Jadhav till adjudication of the case.
Also Read: PM Modi calls for International Coalition on Disaster Resilient Infrastructure
Last February, four-day public hearing in the high profile case took place amidst tightened tensions between two neighbouring countries following the Pulwama terror attack, which killed 40 CRPF personnel on 14 February and was plotted by Pakistan based terror group Jaish-e-Mohammed.
During the hearing in ICJ, Hague, both India and Pakistan had submitted their detailed pleas and responses.
