Senior lawyer Harish Salve represented India at the International Court of Justice.
Highlights
- UN court asks Pak to not hang Kulbhushan Jadhav before final verdict
- Prime Minister Narendra Modi took the lead in lauding Mr Salve
- Grateful to Mr Salve for presenting case so effectively: Sushma Swaraj
Former Attorney General Harish Salve charged only Rs 1 to argue India's case on Kulbhushan Jadhav in the International Court of Justice in The Hague. Today, as the court gave a preliminary verdict in India's favour, asking Pakistan to hold off the execution of Mr Jadhav, he was showered with praise.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi took the lead in lauding Mr Salve, who had represented India earlier in international forums as well. In a conversation with External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj, PM Modi thanked Mr Salve.
Ms Swaraj, too praised Mr Salve's efforts. One of her several posts on Twitter following the International Court's verdict read:
Praise came from her cabinet colleagues too.
Mr Salve was not only part of the team that crafted India's arguments at the court, he also presented the case before the 11-judge bench on Monday in a nearly one-and-a-half hour speech.
Today, the court ruled in India's favour, agreeing with Mr Salve that Pakistan had illegally withheld consular access to Mr Jadhav, whom it accused of spying. The Vienna Convention has provisions for consular access to accused even in cases of terror and espionage, the court said. The court also said Kulbhushan Jadhav's execution can take place at any time, since Pakistan has given no assurance that he won't be executed till the final verdict. It asked Pakistan to "take all measures" to hold off the execution and allow consular access to Mr Jadhav.
Congratulatory messages for Mr Salve overflowed Twitter.
Earlier this week, Ms Swaraj had defended Mr Salve on Twitter as someone took a jibe at him. Mr Salve is one of the most expensive lawyers in the country. But Ms Swaraj had pointed out that for this case, he was taking a fee of only 1 rupee.