On the other side, Pakistan is claiming that the grant of consular access to Jadhav is India's defeat since India had failed to get the other three requests accepted. Pakistan had denied Kulbhsuhan Jadhav the right to consular access on the grounds that in 2008, a bilateral agreement between India and Pakistan overrode the Vienna Convention under which granting access to consular is mandatory.
However, the ICJ refused to accept Pakistan's plea on this front and ruled that Jadhav should be provided with the consular access. The ICJ also suspended the death sentence of Kulbhushan Jadhav and ruled in favour of a retrial in a higher Pakistani court.