NEW DELHI: The Pakistan government may amend the Army Act to allow Kulbhushan Jadhav to appeal against his conviction in a civilian court.

Jadhav, an Indian national accused of spying, was tried and convicted by a Pakistani military court in 2017 and sentenced to death. Islamabad claimed that Jadhav was arrested from Balochistan in March 2017.

India has rejected the charges, terming them baseless, and maintained that Jadhav, a former Navy officer, was on a business trip to Iran when he was kidnapped by Pakistani security forces.

The matter was dragged to the International Court of Justice (ICJ), which ruled that Pakistan had violated the terms of the Vienna Convention by denying Jadhav consular access and directed Pakistani authorities to give Jadhav remedies, including consular access.

According to the ICJ, Pakistan ‘deprived India of the right to communicate with and have access to Kulbhushan Jadhav, to visit him in detention and to arrange for his legal representation’.