Take Sarabjit case to International Court,says PIL in Guj HC

A Gujarat High Court (HC) bench Thursday asked a petitioner to clarify if the Tashkent Declaration between India and Pakistan could be implemented by a citizen of either of the countries.

The bench comprising Chief Justice Bhaskar Bhattacharya and Justice J B Pardiwala made the query acting on a public interest litigation (PIL) that sought a direction asking the Central Government to approach the International Court of Justice (ICJ),with reference to Sarabjit Singhs murder,the Indian prisoner who died in May after being attacked inside a Pakistan jail,against the Government of Pakistan.

The petitioner,HC advocate Girish Das,based his plea on the 1996 Tashkent Declaration signed between India and Pakistan. According to Das,Sarabjit Singhs body was sent to India where post mortem revealed his heart kidneys and stomach to be missing because of which the real cause of death could not be ascertained.

Das has sought the direction to investigate who removed the vital organs from his body and other connected offences like inhuman torture due to his race,language,religion,national and social origin that are prohibited under international treaties and the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.

According to Das,the Tashkent Declaration was signed to promote friendly relations between the people of the two countries and for their welfare.

He has alleged Singhs murder in a Pakistan jail is a violation of the declaration and is nothing but inhumanity.

After hearing the petition,the court adjourned the hearing for next week asking me to clarify if a citizen of either of the countries can get implemented a declaration signed by the two countries, he said.

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Das added that as per provisions of the Protection of Human Rights Act,1993,the Central Government can approach the ICJ to secure fundamental rights of its citizens promised under the Tashkent Declaration.

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