Concerned about Jadhav’s mental well-being: Harish Salve

The Hague: A screengrab of Advocate Harish Salve as he speaks at the International Court of Justice (ICJ) during a public hearing in the case of Kulbhushan Jadhav, the alleged Indian spy sentenced to death by a Pakistani military court in The Hague, Netherlands. (Photo: IANS/File)


Eminent senior counsel Harish Salve, who argued Kulbhushan Jadhav’s case in the International Court of Justice, on Monday said he was disappointed at the meeting between Jadhav and his mother and wife in Islamabad, and was concerned about his mental well-being.

“What we see today is disappointing. As humans, we should rise above scoring geopolitical brownie points. I am concerned about what happened during the meeting, as it was not only the glass between them (Jadhav and his mother and wife), but also because of the way he talked to them,” Salve told Republic TV.

“It was as if he was making scripted comments… The language that he spoke. Usually, when a man is emotional or angry, he speaks and abuses in his mother tongue. Here, he spoke in English. Why did he speak in English?

“It was as if he was inviting people to come and hang him, saying he deserved to be shot and asking them to speed up the process. I am seriously concerned about his mental well-being and the state of mind he is in today,” he said.

Salve said Jadhav’s mother must have gone through something worse than a death penalty having travelled all the way to meet her son and not being able to even speak to him properly, touch him, feel him.