Report on " Moot Court : Simulated Training Session"

6th June 2021 witnessed an exciting event at St. Thomas College of Law.
A Moot Court competition / event was held under the guidance and watchful eyes of Mr. Adnan Irshad, Asst. Professor of law, who is also responsible for the academic subject of the same name “Moot Court” for the final semester students of LLB 3 years course.

It is well known to all of us that a Law Degree prepares and entitles the person to become a lawyer leading the path for him to become an advocate. In the course of acquisition of the degree, obviously there is also a lot of focus on the academics, study of statutes, legal principles and applied substantive laws of the land. But we all know that knowledge is only one side of a triangle that is called competence, the other two being the skill and the attitude are equally important to make a “Competent” Advocate.

The great advocates not only know the law, but also to have the skill of presenting their case to the Court and are able to convince the judge on the merits of the same. Shining legal luminaries, including Mr. Ram Jethmalani, Mr. Harish Salve, Mr. Kapil Sibal and many more are the live examples of this. Eventually it's the advocacy skill of the Advocate which is becomes a differentiator whereas academic at best remain a table-stake. The mere knowledge of the existence of landmark D K Basu case or the Nilabati Bahera case is essential but their applied use as a source of law or a precedence is the “critical success factor” for a good Advocate. It is toward this end that the curriculum earmarks one full paper of 100 marks on development of these practical skills in the last semester for the LLB students under the subject of “Moot Court”. Accordingly, therefore, the very objective of this Moot Court session was to inculcate the practical skills of presenting and pleading in a court of law both in the written format as well as oral advocacy, not to mention the development of softer skills like communication, interpersonal interaction, bar-bench relationship and the general decorum and disposition in a court of law.
The preparations for this event started almost a month back where Mr. Adnan Irshad, organizer and chief administrator for this event, collaborated with external resources and drafted a thought provoking case with strong remembrance to reality. He also prepared a sample template for the students not only to study the case, but also to draft their memos. He then went on to make teams of 2 students each, representing the petitioner and defendant in each team. He also laid down the rules of the Moot Court, apprised and guided the students accordingly. A total of 4 teams were made, 4 students speaking as counsels for the petitioners and the other 4 teams acting as advocates for defendants.

Following teams were made and the list of the same was circulated in advance.

LIST OF CAUSES ON 6/6/2021

Number	Advocate for Petitioners	VS.	Advocate for Defendants
1	Mr. Rajiv Chohan	VS.	Mr. Sudeep Kumar
2	Dr. Neelam Manshiramani	VS.	Mr. Sudeep Kumar
3	Ms. Inderdeep Kaur Raina	VS.	Mr. Ashish Srivastava
4	Mr. Akshay Goyal		Ms. Pooja Kumari

Sunday, 6 June 2021 saw the student community brimming with enthusiasm and excitement. Participants included not the final semester students, but also students of other semesters as keen observers, thereby demonstrating a keen desire among the student community not only to participate, but also to observe and imbibe the skills of advocacy. The event started sharp at 2 pm and Mr. Irshad introduced the division bench consisting of Dr. K.S. Bhati, Advisor, St. Thomas College of Law and Professor Dhananjay K Mishra, Asst. Professor of Law, St. Thomas College of Law. He also announced the format of the presentation both by the petitioners and defendants, which was 10 minutes for each, followed by 2 minutes of rebuttal by the petitioners and 2 minutes of re-rebuttal by the defendant with prior approval of the bench.

The Moot Court started with the team of Mr. Rajiv Chohan and Mr. Sudeep Kumar representing the petitioner and the defendant. Both the sides not only brought out the provisions of substantive laws applicable but also quoted from the key case laws, thus strengthening their arguments. While Mr. Rajiv Chohan, representing the petitioner, brought out the provisions from the Part III of the Constitution of India, specially Article 21 along the relevant case laws and sought appropriate relief from the court, Mr. Sudeep Kumar forcefully brought out the concept of “Right to Self Defense” enshrined in IPC under section 96 to 100. Both the sides brought out the merits of their case and process of rebuttal and re-rebuttal was done. The Hon’ble Judge of the Supreme Court of Indica asked very relevant and pertinent questions both to the Petitioner as well as to the Defendant, thereby simulating the real life court scenarios, combining academic objective of the exercise with real life experience of the court. They then allowed the comments and questions by other faculty members as well.

This Question & Answer session was also made equally interesting where Professor Fahim Khan and Dr. Niti Sinha not only asked the questions, but also provided valuable feedback and insights. Prof Khan brought out some extremely important points about the procedural law as well including CrPC and Evidence Act. This session, which almost lasted for one and half an hour was very ably summed up by Adnan Irshad in his capacity as moderator of the event. This being the first of such case in this moot court, it was not unexpected that a lot of heat will get generated and expectedly, the enthusiasm of all the participants and the students was palpable. Finally the Division Bench gave their verdict in line with the prayer as done by the counsel for the petitioners. There were 3 more sets of such Moot Court presentation and each one of them brought out their own point of view and their own advocacy skills. As expected, the other 3 sessions were much more efficient and smooth having witnessed the debate in the first session.

After all the high decibel Court room drama, the moderator asked Dr. K.S. Bhati not only to comment on the proceedings, but also to give his valuable feedback and suggestions to the students and also to some of the event management committee members. Dr. K S Bhati, first and foremost congratulated Mr. Adnan Irshad for conducting such a lively event of moot court and complimented him for creating such a platform, where all the faculty members and the students of various semesters were glued to the screen for more than 3 hours, some of them doing so at the cost of even skipping their lunch. He also complimented all the participants not only for their well research memos, but also for their very in depth and equally energetic and passionate advocacy with strong back-up of the applicable laws as well as relevant case laws. Given his extensive experience in the field of applied as well academic law, he also gave the his Pearls of wisdom to the students, which included:

• “Bring out the strongest point quickly. Fire your main guns upfront. You never have luxury of time in front of the judges”
• “Bring out the specific substantive law provisions as soon as possible”.
• “Refer the relevant case laws, which are as close to your own case”.
• “Stick to the time allocated to you”.
• And finally “Never do a cross talk with your opposing counsel in a court of law, must only address the court”.

He went on to express his delight on successful conclusion of this moot court and complimented Mr. Adnan Irshad, the participants, all the faculty members and the students in general. He also promised that such moot court and other skill imparting session will be continue to happen in the St. Thomas College of Law and expressed his personal commitment to the same.

The moderator, Mr. Adnan Irshad then expressed his gratitude to Dr. Bhati, who spent 3 hours of his valuable time and shared his immense knowledge, not only of the legal academia, but also of the real life court-room process with the students. He also expressed his gratitude to his colleagues in the faculty and indeed to all the students. The event was finally called to the close by Mr. Irshad by expressing his gratitude to the Chair, Dr. K S Bhati.

Youtube Link of Webinar:- https://youtu.be/QhkJagtxCUM

Photo Link of Webinar:- " Moot Court : Simulated Training Session"