I owe you Re 1, Sushma told India’s ICJ lawyer Salve, hours before death

New Delhi, Aug 07: For senior counsel Harish Salve who fought the Kulbhushan Jadhav case for India in the International Court of Justice, the death os Sushma Swaraj came as a shocker.

He said that he had spoken to her at 8.45 pm on Tuesday and she sounded absolutely fine. She even told me that I had to collect the Re 1 fee which I had decided to charge to fight the case. It is a personal loss for me and the entire country, he also said.

Sushma Swaraj passed away at the AIIMs late on Tuesday.

Swaraj was the extenral affairs minister, when India moved the ICJ against the death penalty awarded to Jadhav by a military court in Pakistan. She had said that Salve had charged the nation just Re 1 to fight the case.

Salve who is known to charge a high fee for the cases he argues only charged Re 1 for the case before the ICJ. "Not fair. Harish Salve has charged us Rs.1- as his fee for this case (sic)," External Affairs minister, Sushma Swaraj had said in a tweet.

The external affairs minister was responding to a twitter user who claimed that any good Indian lawyer would have done the same and with much less expenses than Harish Salve.

Sources say that it was Salve who voluntarily offered to charge just Re 1 to argue India's case on behalf of Jadhav. It was in true national spirit and keeping in mind the sentiments of the entire nation that Salve decided to charge that fee to the government of India. He is a true patriot, the source also added.

Salve, it may be recalled had also successfully argued at the ICJ against a bid by Marshall Islands to sue India for violating the nuclear disarmament obligations.