NEW DELHI : When the International Court of Justice (ICJ) on Wednesday passed a 13-2 verdict against Russia, Justice Dalveer Bhandari from India voted in favour of Ukraine. However, he voted only as a member of the ICJ and his opinion is not India’s official stand.
The ICJ on Wednesday called on the Russian Federation to cease hostilities in Ukraine, stating that it was “profoundly concerned” by Russia’s use of force. Kyiv hailed the verdict as a victory, but Moscow maintained that the Hague-based court ‘lacks jurisdiction’ to hear the case.
While Justice Dalveer Bhandari from India voted against Russia, the two votes against the order were cast by ICJ Vice-President Kirill Gevorgian of Russia and Judge Xue Hanqin of China.
The 74-year-old Justice Bhandari is a former judge of the Supreme Court of India and is serving his second term as a member of the ICJ. He was elevated as a judge of the Supreme Court on October 28, 2005.
Justice Bhandari also served as the Chief Justice of the Bombay High Court from July 25, 2004, till his appointment as a senior SC judge. Before that, he served as a judge at the Delhi High Court for 13 years since March 19, 1991.
He was among the 11 judges of the International Court of Justice (ICJ) presiding over the Kulbhushan Jadhav case.
Justice Bhandari has been a member of the International Court of Justice since April 27, 2012. He was re-elected for a second term of nine years on February 6, 2018.
He has delivered opinions on various important matters, covering maritime disputes, whaling in Antarctica, cases related to genocide, delimitation of continental shelves, nuclear disarmament, financing of terrorism, violation of sovereign rights, etc, during his stint at the ICJ so far.
