The Centre on Friday sought a copy of the chargesheet filed against, and the death sentence handed out to, Kulbhushan Jadhav and said that it would appeal against the order, ANI reported. Jadhav, a former Indian Navy officer, has been accused by Pakistan of working for India’s Research and Analysis Wing.
In a meeting with Pakistan’s Foreign Secretary Tehmina Janjua, Indian High Commissioner Gautam Bambawale sought consular access to Jadhav for the 14th time. However, Janjua said that since this was allegedly a case of espionage, consular access could not be granted. This was dismissed by Bambawale on the grounds that granting consular access to such convicts was part of international law.
“I have asked for a certified copy of the chargesheet as well as the judgement in the death sentence of Kulbhushan Jadhav,” Bambawale said.
Meanwhile, the Lahore High Court Bar Association on Friday said that it would take action against any lawyer who defended Jadhav, PTI reported. “The Association has unanimously decided to cancel the membership of any lawyer who offers his services to Indian spy Kulbhushan Jadhav,” the organisation’s secretary general Amer Saeed Raan said.
Earlier, the Minister of State for Defence, Subhash Bhamre, had said that India was piling diplomatic pressure on Pakistan to release Jadhav and that if the neighbouring country went ahead with his execution, New Delhi would treat it as murder. “We have given a strong message to the authorities in Pakistan that the way in which the verdict has been given by the army court is not transparent and not in accordance with bilateral relations between the two nations,” Bhamre had said.
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