Flew from all over, saved man from gallows: Justice Bhandari

Speaking to The Indian Express, Justice Bhandari said he and his fellow judges at the ICJ worked round-the-clock all of last week and the outcome was an unprecedented unanimous pronouncement.

Justice Dalveer Bhandari.

Shortly after The Hague ruling Thursday, Justice Dalveer Bhandari, the Indian judge on the 11-member bench of the International Court of Justice (ICJ), described the order as a “hugely satisfying interim pronouncement which is a great diplomatic victory for India”.

Speaking to The Indian Express, Justice Bhandari — he joined the ICJ in April 2012 — said he and his fellow judges at the ICJ worked round-the-clock all of last week and the outcome was an unprecedented unanimous pronouncement.

Read | Tussle between Army, govt will shape how The Hague verdict plays out in Pakistan

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“I am delighted that the International Court rose to the occasion and did what it could in such short notice. We have saved a person from the gallows. This will prove to be a very important case for the jurisprudence of human rights. Now the larger issues which have been raised by the dispute will be taken up by the court after a break,” he said.

Read | Kulbhushan Jadhav’s execution stayed by ICJ: Full text of verdict

Justice Bhandari described the events which led to the quorum easily being formed to hear the Kulbhushan Jadhav case. He said once the ICJ was abreast of the matter, judges rose to the “call of duty” and took the first flight from different parts of the world to arrive at The Hague.

Then, for over a week, did nothing else but examine the submissions of India and Pakistan and write their observations. He said he had personally written a lengthy “declaration” on the dispute and was delighted that eventually, the pronouncement was one in which the entire bench concurred.

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Describing the key facets of the Jadhav case, Justice Bhandari said, “This is a case in which Pakistan unfairly denied consular access.

India had sent 13 note verbale to Pakistan but not one was replied to. We do not even know whether Jadhav was allowed to file an appeal against the sentencing given by a military court in Pakistan. Then, it was in desperation that his mother filed an appeal. But there has been silence even after that. So it was a very difficult situation that the Indian government found itself in. And as I said, I am very satisfied at the outcome at The Hague.”

Ritu Sarin

Ritu Sarin is Executive Editor (News and Investigations) at The Indian Express group. Her areas of specialisation include internal security, money laundering and corruption. Sarin is one of India’s most renowned reporters and has a career in journalism of over four decades. She is a member of the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ) since 1999 and since early 2023, a member of its Board of Directors. She has also been a founder member of the ICIJ Network Committee (INC). She has, to begin with, alone, and later led teams which have worked on ICIJ’s Offshore Leaks, Swiss Leaks, the Pulitzer Prize winning Panama Papers, Paradise Papers, Implant Files, Fincen Files, Pandora Papers, the Uber Files and Deforestation Inc. She has conducted investigative journalism workshops and addressed investigative journalism conferences with a specialisation on collaborative journalism in several countries. ... Read More

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