NEW DELHI: India to seek consular access to Kulbhushan Jadhav, notwithstanding his meeting with his wife and mother on Monday, reported Times of India.
The report further said India’s position had been clear all along that Jadhav was delivered a death sentence without being accorded basic legal rights under international law and that Pakistan’s position in the case was allegedly farcical. India had described the death sentence to Jadhav as premeditated murder.
Indian officials pointed out that even the International Court of Justice (ICJ), while staying Jadhav’s death sentence, had said that India should have been granted consular access to Jadhav in line with the Vienna Convention.
Pakistan had issued visas to Jadhav’s wife and mother on “humanitarian grounds”, and had consistently denied consular access to him, maintaining that the Vienna Convention does not apply to those involved in espionage.
Kulbhushan Jadhav, a former Indian Navy officer, was arrested in Pakistan on espionage charges.
He was captured by security forces on March 3, 2016, in Balochistan and sentenced to death by a military tribunal earlier this year for his involvement in terrorism and espionage.
His appeals against the conviction have been rejected by the military appellate court and his mercy petition has been lying with Army Chief Gen Qamar Javed Bajwa.
India has challenged Pakistan’s refusal to grant consular access to the spy in the International Court of Justice (ICJ).
The ICJ is hearing the case and has restrained the Pakistan government from executing Jadhav until it decides the case.