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Symbiosis Law School, Pune, a constituent of Symbiosis International University, successfully organized the Second Symbiosis Law School, Pune - International Criminal Trial Advocacy Competition, 2017(SICTA) from 31st March, 2017 to 2nd April, 2017 at SLS, Pune. The three day competition hosted teams from 18 law schools including 4 foreign law schools namely University of Sussex, United Kingdom; Nepal Law Campus, Tribhuvan University, Nepal; Kuwait International Law School, Kuwait; and University of Chittagong, Bangladesh.
The event was inaugurated on 31st March, 2017 with Hon'ble (Retd.) Justice V.S. Sirpurkar, Former Judge, Supreme Court of India and Adv. Ram Jethmalani, Senior Advocate, Supreme Court of India, Professor Emeritus, SIU as Chief Guest and Guest of Honour respectively. Justice V. R. Sirpurkar and Adv. Ram Jethmalani shared their wisdom with the audience.
Valedictory on 2nd April, 2017 had Hon’ble Justice S. Ravindra Bhat, Judge, High Court of Delhi as the Chief Guest. Prof. B. S. Chimni, Chairperson, International Legal Studies, JNU, and Mr. Narinder Singh, Former Chairperson, International Law Commission also graced the occasion as the Guests of Honour.
The three finalist teams battling for the trophy had the honour of being adjudged by the Hon’ble Chief guest and Guests of Honour.
Dr. Shashikala Gurpur, Fulbright Scholar, Director, SLS, Pune, Dean, Faculty of Law, SIU, began her address by apprising the house of her successful completion of 10 years today as the Director of SLS, Pune. She highlighted the importance of youth in every organization and stated that the roaring success of this edition of SICTA served a reminder to start initiating preparations for the next one on an immediate basis. She concluded by inviting feedback to raise the quality of the competition even more.
Prof. B.S. Chimni commended the leadership of Dr. Gurpur and expressed his hopes for the bright future of the college. He said, “Expand your canvas and always read around the theme that your engaging with, because these are the occasions to actually learn about the subject. It’s not about winning or losing but about enlarging your knowledge about a particular subject.”
Mr. Narinder Singh then delivered a perceptive speech in which he elucidated upon the developments in the sphere of international law after the establishment of the UN. He stated how International Law had progressed from a law governing relations between countries, to focusing upon individuals as well. He commended SLS, Pune for focusing on this relevant issue and congratulated the participants for their stellar performance.
Hon’ble Justice S. Ravindra Bhat enumerated upon skills required by trial advocates by drawing an illuminating analogy with the game of cricket: as both cricketers and advocates are required to deal with the unpredictable to become a true champion. Highlighting the trials of Gandhi and Ghose, he labelled trials as a very powerful public medium, of which the advocate is the Director. Justice Bhat emphasized the importance of procedural law and recommended the participants to be well versed with the same. Giving examples of the OECD rules and the GATT rules, he proceeded to discuss changes in the field of international law and its fast expanding permeating nature.
Then came the most awaited moment where the results were finally announced and cash prizes worth Rs. 1,30,000 were distributed. The best memorial award was bagged by Tia Jose, Abhijeet A. and G. Arjun from NUALS, Kochi. Best student advocate award went to Sreyansh Jain from RGNUL. Shri P.V Ramanayya Memorial Best Prosecutor Award went to Aidan Seymour-Butler, University of Sussex, United Kingdom. Best Student Advocate Final Round went to Divyakshi Jain from NLU, Jodhpur.
Best International Team award was bagged by Isaac Masaraure, Aidan Seymour-Butler and Luis from University of Sussex, United Kingdom. Second Runner-up Award went to Dipti Sapkota, Samrit Kharel, and Sapana Danai from Nepal Law Campus, Tribhuvan University which entailed a trophy, books, a course subscription package of Rostrum Legal Infinity worth Rs. 5999 and a grand cash prize of Rs. 10,000.
Tia Jose, Abhijeet A. and G. Arjun from NUALS, Kochi bagged the first runners up position and received a trophy, books, a course subscription package of Rostrum Legal Infinity worth Rs. 5999 and a grand cash prize of Rs. 25,000 while the winners of SICTA, 2017 were Anmol Jain, Divyakshi Jain and Achal Mittal from NLU, Jodhpur. The winners received a glittering trophy, Books, a course subscription package of Rostrum Legal Infinity worth Rs. 5999 and a grand cash prize of Rs. 50,000.
The grand finale came to an end with the vote of thanks by Dr. Bindu Ronald.
