Pakistan might modify its Army Act; good news for Kulbhushan Jadhav

Pakistan might amend its Army Act to provide Kulbhushan Jadhav the right to appeal in a civilian court. This is considered a major development as Pakistan is yet to fully implement the verdict of International Court Of Justice (ICJ) which had directed it to review its decision on Jadhav.

Pakistan set to modify section 133 of the Army Act

Sources say that Pakistan is set to modify section 133 of the Army Act which means Jadhav could take his case to a civilian court and appeal against the verdict of the military court. If that happens, it would also mean that India could then provide legal assistance to Jadhav which almost impossible otherwise as the ruling of military courts can not be challenged in civilian courts in Pakistan. It is not that there is no provision for appeal against the verdict of a military court. While one could appeal against their decision, it has to be in the Court of Appeals which comprises of Chief of Army Staff, Major General or Brigadier. An appeal in a civilian court, therefore, is not provisioned as it does not have the aforementioned officials part of the procedure.

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In case Pakistan amends the Army Act, it would open the doors of opportunity for many cases which do not have a scope of going further. According to the provision, any verdict given by the military court would have to be challenged in a civilian court within six months of the ruling. As far as Kulbhushan Jadhav's case is considered, the terms of date would slightly differ. In his case, the date would not be counted from the day of Military Court's verdict but the day from International Court of Justice's verdict.

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Earlier this year, the International Court Of Justice had found that Pakistan had violated the Vienna Convention on Consular Relations. Pakistan, it had said in its verdict, had “deprived India of the right to communicate with and have access to Mr Kulbhushan Sudhir Jadhav, to visit him in detention and to arrange for his legal representation”. It had ordered an “effective review and reconsideration of the conviction and sentence of Mr. Kulbhushan Sudhir Jadhav”. India got its first consular access to Kulbhshan Jadhav on 2nd September 2019 with the then Deputy Indian High Commissioner Gaurav Ahluwalia meeting Jadhav for two hours.

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