- India urged the International Court of Justice (ICJ) to annul former Indian Navy officer Kulbhushan Jadhav’s death sentence by a Pakistani military court and order his immediate release.
- India submitted that (a) Pakistan violated its obligations under Article 36 of Vienna Convention on Consular Relations 1963 by refusing India consular access to Jadhav when he was under detention.(b) There is lack of material against Jadhav (c) Proceedings in Pakistani military courts fall short of international standards and (d) Bilateral treaties can only supplement Vienna Convention.
- In 2008, the two nations entered into a bilateral agreement on consular access.Unlike the Vienna Convention, this bilateral agreement does not provide for the submission of disputes to the International Court. India argued this provision of the bilateral agreement should be read narrowly.
- The Vienna Convention of 1961 is an international treaty that defines a framework for diplomatic relations between independent countries. Article 36 of this treaty states that foreign nationals who are arrested should have the right to be informed about their arrest at its consulate.
