For students at O.P. Jindal Global University (JGU) success is not accidental, it’s a combination of prolonged determination, commitment, and enthusiasm.
One such example is the latest win of our team Jindal Global Law School (JGLS), comprising of Sarbesh Chaudhary, Shourya Mitra, Siddhant Tokas, Aditya Kumar, and Aryan Mehta at the National Round of the IBA ICC Moot Court Competition.
For the winning team, the preparation for the competition started in August 2021, a month before the problem for the competition was released. Together with their coach Prof. Raphael Pangalangan who brings with him a wealth of experience in human rights and criminal justice, the students went through multiple scholarly sources, meetings, discussions, and debates to get an in-depth understanding of how the International Criminal Court operates and deals with different crimes. “Drafting of the memorials started in the first week of January 2022 and was a cumbersome process since the team had to draft memorials for three sides, something unique to the ICC Moot.”, shares the team while talking about their journey of getting into the final rounds of the competition.
While submissions were going on till the last week of February 2022, the team continued its preparation in full swing for the Oral rounds that happened in the last week of March 2022. Although the entire process was exhilarating and tiring, the team claims that the results made it worthwhile, “We know that the win wouldn’t have been possible without the collective efforts of the team that continued to push each other to the path of success and the valuable guidance of Prof. Pangalangan”, shares the team proudly.
When asked to talk about their winning moment, the team gets excited and their eyes light up. “It was a euphoric moment when our name was announced. We lost all regard of where we were and just embraced each other in a huddle. That moment validated and made worthwhile all the hours we put in and the sacrifices we made over the last seven months.”, shares Aryan Mehta (one of the team members).
The National Rounds of the Moot saw over 25 teams contesting over the course of 3 days, the JGLS team first cleared the preliminary rounds by scoring in the top 15 teams. They then faced two teams in a knockout round in the advanced round, upon winning the team, for the first time in the university’s history, secured a position in the world rounds. Their performance in the advanced rounds also secured them a position in the top 3 teams, allowing them to participate in the final rounds. Prof. Pangalangan, a proud mentor to the team believes that for the team the competition was not simply a quest, but a journey, “Our students learned much in the world of verbal jousting, and the national championship is just (much-deserved) icing on the cake. The big WIN is but a testament to the quality of students and creative thinking JGLS offers. They make us proud!”
The team is proud of their journey and believes that the challenge was worth it! “Preparing for the moot has seasoned us for our future legal careers by giving us a global view of the material issues surrounding International Criminal Law.”, shares Siddhant Tokas.
Even after winning the National Round, the team is not even wasting a single second and has started preparing for the International round “For us it’s just half the battle won. It’s an honour representing our college on the world stage and we shall give it our very best”, adds Aryan.
We congratulate the team for their exemplary performance and wish them luck for the World rounds.
