• The Supreme Court refused to entertain a petition by a family member of Indian national Nikhil Gupta, an accused in a US court of plotting an assassination attempt on a Sikh separatist leader in New York, seeking consular access and further legal assistance to challenge his indictment and extradition to the US.

• Gupta has been in jail in Prague since he was detained in the Czech Republic six months ago.

• During the hearing, the court called the matter “sensitive”, making it clear that the issue is outside the jurisdiction of Indian courts, which can only concern itself with the compliance of the Vienna Convention.

• Gupta has been charged by the US authorities with trying to hire a hitman for $100,000 to kill Gurpatwant Singh Pannun, an American citizen, in New York.

Vienna Convention on Consular Relations

• Various attempts were made to codify international consular law in the first half of the 20th century. In 1961, the Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations was concluded, which was followed in 1963 with the conclusion of the Vienna Convention on Consular Relations.

• The right of each country to assist its citizens abroad is a basic principle of international law and diplomacy. 

• The Vienna Convention on Consular Relations (VCCR) is a multilateral treaty that codifies consular rights and obligations and is the cornerstone of consular relations. 

• The treaty makes it possible for a country to assist its nationals abroad while respecting the sovereignty of other countries.

• The Convention was adopted on April 22, 1963 by the United Nations Conference on Consular Relations held at the Neue Hofburg in Vienna, Austria.

• It entered into force on March 19, 1967

• The VCCR, to a large extent, codified customary international law, and thus represents the most basic principles pertaining to the performance of consular functions.

• The VCCR provides rules for the operation of consulates and for the functions of consuls and honorary consuls of a “sending” country (the country that has sent the consular official abroad) in a “receiving” country (the country to which the foreign consular official has been sent). 

• Much of the VCCR addresses the “privileges and immunities” of consular officers (the fact that they may not be sued for official acts). 

• Some of the VCCR’s articles, however, address what consular officers may actually do for their nationals in the “host country”.

• Article 36 of the Vienna Convention on Consular Relations provides that consulate officers shall have the right to visit a national of their country who is in prison, custody or detention, and to converse and correspond with him and to arrange for his legal representation. 

• If a citizen of a foreign country is arrested or committed to prison or to custody or is detained in any other manner, the consular post of the country is to be informed of the same without delay.

Additional read:

Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations

The United Nations Conference on Diplomatic Intercourse and Immunities adopted the Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations on April 18, 1961. It came into effect from April 24, 1964. It outlines the rules of diplomatic law.

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