1 Rupee Fee, But Harish Salve Earns India's Praise, Gratitude

New Delhi: Former Attorney General Harish Salve charged only Rs 1 to argue India's case on Kulbhushan Jadhav in the International Court of Justice in The Hague. Today, as the court gave a preliminary verdict in India's favour, asking Pakistan to hold off the execution of Mr Jadhav, he was showered with praise.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi took the lead in lauding Mr Salve, who had represented India earlier in international forums as well.  In a conversation with External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj, PM Modi thanked Mr Salve.

Ms Swaraj, too praised Mr Salve's efforts. One of her several  posts on Twitter following the International Court's verdict read:
 

We are grateful to Mr.Harish Salve for presenting India's case so effectively before ICJ.

— Sushma Swaraj (@SushmaSwaraj) May 18, 2017

Praise came from her cabinet colleagues too.
 

Well done! #HarishSalve - you have done India Proud.

— Arun Jaitley (@arunjaitley) May 18, 2017

 

Great victory for India at International Court of Justice. Congratulations to entire team; specially Harish Salve for arguing the case.

— Ravi Shankar Prasad (@rsprasad) May 18, 2017

 
Mr Salve was not only part of the team that crafted India's arguments at the court, he also presented the case before the 11-judge bench on Monday in a nearly one-and-a-half hour speech.

Today, the court ruled in India's favour, agreeing with Mr Salve that Pakistan had illegally withheld consular access to Mr Jadhav, whom it accused of spying. The Vienna Convention has provisions for consular access to accused even in cases of terror and espionage, the court said. The court also said Kulbhushan Jadhav's execution can take place at any time, since Pakistan has given no assurance that he won't be executed till the final verdict. It asked Pakistan to "take all measures" to hold off the execution and allow consular access to Mr Jadhav.

Congratulatory messages for Mr Salve overflowed Twitter.
 

Harish Salve and Justice prevail. World Court rules in favour of India. Bravo

— Rishi Kapoor (@chintskap) May 18, 2017

 

Well done HARISH Salve and Team India. Justice prevailed. As it must.

— SUHEL SETH (@suhelseth) May 18, 2017

 

Congratulations Harish Salve from billion hearts.Not only you saved Kulbhusan Yadav but made India proud too

— Alok Ghosh (@alokgin) May 18, 2017

 

On behalf of the nation, I salute Harish Salve sir for bringing justice for Kulbhushan Jadhav, You took 1 Rupees, but won 125 cr hearts.

— Bhaiyyaji (@bhaiyyajispeaks) May 18, 2017

Earlier this week, Ms Swaraj had defended Mr Salve on Twitter as someone took a jibe at him. Mr Salve is one of the most expensive lawyers in the country. But Ms Swaraj had pointed out that for this case, he was taking a fee of only 1 rupee.