India submits written plea at ICJ in Kulbhushan Jadhav case

India on Wednesday submitted written pleadings to the ICJ in Jadhav case.

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The Hague: A four-member team on Wednesday handed over India's memorial, consisting of written submission in Kulbhushan Jadhav case to the registrar office at the International Court of Justice (ICJ) at Hague.

The four-member team consists of India's Ambassador to the Netherlands Venu Rajamony and first secretary legal officer Kajal Bhatt, Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) joint secretary Legal and Treaties division Dr VD Sharma and Joint Secretary PAI division Dr Deepak Mittal.

India's written response was submitted to registrar Philippe Couvreur of the ICJ. The contents of the submission will not be made public.

Pakistan will submit counter memorial on or before December 13, 2017.

In response to a query on submission of memorial to ICJ in Jadhav case, the official spokesperson of MEA said, "India has submitted its Memorial (written pleadings) to the International Court of Justice in the Jadhav case involving egregious violation of Vienna Convention on Consular Relations 1963 by Pakistan. This is in furtherance of our application filed before the Court on May 8, 2017," ANI reported. 

On May 18, the International Court of Justice (ICJ) had stayed the execution of former Indian Navy officer.

The UN's highest judicial body had also asked Pakistan to take "all measures" to ensure that Jadhav, sentenced to death by a Pakistani military court for alleged espionage, was not executed till the court had delivered its final verdict on the issue.

India had welcomed the court's unanimous decision on Jadhav, 46, while Islamabad had said it had informed the ICJ that it did not accept the court's jurisdiction in matters related to national security.

ICJ president Ronny Abraham, a 63-year-old French academic and practitioner in public international law, had asked Pakistan to keep the court informed "of all measures taken" in the implementation of the order, as per PTI.

The 15-member bench had backed India's contention that there had been a violation of the Vienna Convention on Consular Relations as New Delhi's requests for consular access to its national had been denied.

The court had also noted that India and Pakistan were signatories to the Vienna Convention since 1977.

Pakistan claims its security forces arrested Jadhav on March 03, 2016 from Balochistan province after he reportedly entered from Iran.

On March 29, 2016, they issued a confessional video of Jadhav. On the same day, India rejected the charges and sought consular access to Jadhav.

Pakistan ruled out extradition of Jadhav and on April 10, 2017, Pakistan military's media wing Inter- Services Public Relations (ISPR) issued a statement saying Army Chief had approved he execution of Jadhav after a military court found him guilty of 'involvement in espionage and sabotage activities' against the country.

India had moved the ICJ against the death penalty handed down to Jadhav on May 08, 2017.

(With PTI inputs)