India has pooh-poohed Pakistan's new Review and Reconsideration Bill 2020 that was passed by the National Assembly, saying that municipal courts cannot be the arbiter of whether a State has fulfilled its obligations in international law.

Speaking at the weekly press briefing, Arindam Bagchi, spokesperson for the Ministry of External Affairs said that the bill is the same as a previous ordinance which invited municipal courts in Pakistan to decide whether or not any prejudice has been caused to former naval officer Kukbhushan Jadhav on account of the failure to provide consular access. 

"This is clearly a breach of the basic tenet that municipal courts cannot be the arbiter of whether a State has fulfilled its obligations in international law. Not only this, it further invites the municipal court to sit in appeal, as it were, over the judgement of the International Court of Justice," said Bagchi.

He said that the bill codifies into law the earlier ordinance, with all its shortcomings. "It does not create a machinery to facilitate effective review and reconsideration of Shri Jadhav’s case, as mandated by the judgement of the International Court of Justice."

The International Court of Justice had ruled that Pakistan was in breach of its international obligations because of the failure to provide consular access to Jadhav. Even after the court's ruling in 2019, Jadhav was not provided unimpeded access to lawyers.

Jadhav was taken into Pakistan's custody in 2016 and charged with espionage. He was tried by a ministry court and sentenced to death. He was allowed to meet his mother and wife in December 2017, but even that meeting was under the scrutiny of Pakistani officials.

India took the case to the International Court of Justice in The Hague which said that Pakistan had breached international law by refusing to provide him consular access.

"We call upon Pakistan to take appropriate steps to address the shortcomings in the bill and to comply with the judgement of the ICJ in letter and spirit," said Bagchi.

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