New Delhi: The International Court of Justice Tuesday stayed the execution of Indian national Kulbhushan Jadhav, who has been sentenced to death by a Pakistani military court on charges of “spying”.

The order by the Hague-based International Court of Justice (ICJ) came a day after India approached it against the death sentence handed down to Jadhav by Pakistan’s Field General Court Martial last month, official sources said.

India, in its appeal to the ICJ, accused Pakistan of “egregious” violations of the Vienna Convention on Consular Relations and asserted that Jadhav was kidnapped from Iran where he was involved in business activities after retiring from the Indian Navy but Pakistan claimed to have arrested him from Balochistan on March 3, 2016.

Reacting to the development, External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj said, “I have spoken to the mother of Kulbhushan Jadhav and told her about the order of President, ICJ under Art 74 Paragraph 4 of Rules of Court.”

Swaraj said senior advocate Harish Salve was representing India before the ICJ in the Jadhav case.

ICJ President Ronny Abraham has reportedly written a letter to Pakistan government, asking it to act in such a way which would enable the implementation of any order the ICJ may issue in the case.

India, in its appeal, contended that it was not informed of Jadhav’s detention until long after his arrest and that Pakistan failed to inform the accused of his rights.

It further asserted that, in violation of the Vienna Convention, the Pakistani authorities were denying India its right of consular access to Jadhav, despite repeated requests.

“Referring to ‘the extreme gravity and immediacy of the threat that authorities in Pakistan will execute an Indian citizen in violation of obligations Pakistan owes to India’, India urges the Court to deliver an order indicating provisional measures immediately, ‘without waiting for an oral hearing’,” India’s appeal said.

Jadhav, 46, was given death sentence last month by the Field General Court Martial in Pakistan, evoking a sharp reaction in India which warned Pakistan of consequences and damage to bilateral ties if the “pre-meditated murder” was carried out.

In its application, India had also informed the ICJ that it learned about the death sentence against Jadhav from a press release.

“India claims that ‘linking assistance to the investigation process to the grant(ing) of consular access was by itself a serious violation of the Vienna Convention’,” the ICJ release said.

The ICJ said India urged it to restrain Pakistan from carrying out the death sentence, and direct Islamabad to take steps to annul the decision of the military court.

Pakistan claims its security forces had arrested Jadhav from the restive Balochistan province on March 3 last year after he reportedly entered from Iran. It also claimed that he was “a serving officer in the Indian Navy.”

Jadhav was sentenced to death for “espionage and subversive activities”.

India acknowledges that Jadhav had served with the Navy but denies that he has any connection with the government.

India has also handed over to Pakistan an appeal by Jadhav’s mother, initiating a process to get his conviction overturned.

The appeal on behalf of Jadhav was given last month to Pakistan’s Foreign Secretary Tehmina Janjua by Indian High Commissioner Gautam Bambawale, who also handed over a petition by Jadhav’s mother seeking the Pakistan government’s intervention for his release and expressing the desire to meet him.

(PTI)

Srinagar: An army officer was found dead in Shopian district of south Kashmir on Wednesday, police sources said.

The body of Umar Fayyaz, a Lieutenant who had joined the Army five months ago, was found with bullet wounds in Hermain area of the district, they said.

Police said the officer, hailing from neighbouring Kulgam district, had gone to Shopian to attend the marriage function of a relative.

An army official here said they have received an input and are verifying the circumstances in which the officer was found dead.

According to reports, he was abducted by terrorists late last night and was shot dead.

(PTI)

Bengaluru: The Department of Pre-University Education (PUE), Karnataka is likely to declare the results on May 10. Candidates who have appeared for the II PUC exams in the state can soon download and check their results from the official website which is pue.kar.nic.in

The examination was conducted from March 9 to March 27.

According to reports, every year, approximately 8.5 lakh students appear for PUC exam.

Steps to download the II PUC 2017 exam results:

Log on to the official website, pue.kar.nic.in
Click on the relevant link
Enter your roll number, date of birth in the space provided
Click to submit
Results will be displayed.
Download your results and take a print out of the same for further reference.
The date of the SSLC result, which will come out in about week since PU result is out, will be announced after the PU result is announced.

(Agencies)

New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Tuesday found Vijay Mallya guilty of contempt of court and directed him to appear in the court on 10 July for arguing on quantum of punishment in the matter.

The liquor baron, who owes Indian banks Rs 9,000 crore, has been living in London since March last year, and the Indian government is pressing with the UK government for his extradition. Mallya fled to UK on 2 March 2016 pre-empting his likely arrest in India in the case of money laundering allegations.

Tuesday’s order pertains to Mallya’s disclosure of assets in the court. Earlier on 9 March, the court had asked the beleaguered but flamboyant businessman whether he had truthfully disclosed his assets before the court or not.

The Supreme Court bench comprising Justices A K Goel and U U Lalit had asked Mallya if he had been truthful after a consortium of banks led by the State Bank of India alleged that $40 million was transferred by Mallya to his three children in complete violation of the Karnataka High Court order

Moreover, the fact that $40 million was received by Mallya from a United Kingdom-based company Diageo PLC was not disclosed before the court here, Attorney General Mukul Rohatgi, appearing for the banks, had alleged then.

The bench had taken note of the allegation, and wanted to know as to whether by transferring $40 million to his children, he violated the Karnataka High Court order in this regard or not.

The Karnataka High Court had earlier restrained Mallya from transferring or alienating any movable and immovable assets to any third party.

Mallya had received $40 million from Diageo as part of a $75 million sweet heart deal after he resigned as chairman of United Spirits in February 2016. He had quickly apportioned $40 million to his children, who are US citizens. He had disclosed this in an affidavit before the court in November 2016.

However, as per Rohatgi’s submission before the court, Mallya had not disclosed the fund he received from Diageo and transferred to his three children in the assets he disclosed before the court.

(Agencies)

New Delhi: The AAP today staged a “live demonstration” of alleged EVM manipulation in the Delhi Assembly.

AAP MLA Saurabh Bhardwaj claimed that anyone knowing a “secret code” can tamper with the EVMs and the code can be fed into a machine while casting vote.

The Election Commission has time and again rubbished allegations that EVMs can be programmed to favour any particular party.

Before Bhardwaj’s demonstration, Kejriwal tweeted, “Saurabh Bhardwaj will reveal the truth behind a big conspiracy in the country. Satyameva Jayate”.

Bhardwaj, who represents the Greater Kailash constituency, claimed that in his capacity as an engineer, he had extensively worked in this area and was aware of how the machines can be fiddled with.

(Agencies)