Special bench of Islamabad HC to hear Kulbhushan Jadhav’s review plea

Three days after the Pakistan government presented an ordinance in the National Assembly, enabling former Indian navy commander Kulbhushan Jadhav to file a review against his death sentence, the Islamabad High Court has formed a special bench to hear the case from next week, Hindustan Times reported.

On Monday (July 27), Pakistan presented the ordinance, despite protests by Opposition parties. Under the International Court of Justice (ICJ) Review and Reconsideration Ordinance 2020, a petition for the review of a military court’s decision can be made to Islamabad High Court through an application within 60 days of its promulgation.

In April 2017, Jadhav was sentenced to death by a Pakistani military court on charges of espionage and terrorism. India approached the ICJ against Pakistan for denial of consular access to Jadhav and challenging the death sentence.

The Hague-based ICJ ruled in July 2019 that Pakistan must undertake an “effective review and reconsideration” of the conviction and sentence of Jadhav and also to grant consular access to India without further delay. Under the law, the ordinance should be presented in Parliament and Pakistan enacted the ordinance on May 20.

However, the Opposition criticised the government for “facilitating” Jadhav through a special law and staged a walkout from Parliament to protest the ordinance promulgated by the government in view of the International Court of Justices ruling in the case of Jadhav.

(With inputs from agencies)