Date: August 30-31, 2024, Saturday

Time: 9:00 am to 4:30 pm

Venue: Moot Court Hall, Learning Centre (Central Campus) .

The Alliance Centre for Criminal Justice Administration and Gender Studies is an exclusive Centre for advanced research training, policy analysis and consultancy in the broader fields of Criminal Law, Criminal Justice, and Victimology. The centre’s main aim is to promote quality research and learning among students and faculties in the various segments of criminal law.

The centre organised a Debate Competition which revolved around contemporary and challenging issues in Criminal Law and Gender Justice, especially the growing crimes against women in Indian Society. This Debate Competition aimed to teach and encourage debating skills among law students.

This Debate commenced on the morning of 30th August 2024 at 9 a.m. as the organising committee members welcomed the participants. Dr. Sanjay Kumar Panday, the Director of the Alliance Centre for Criminal Justice Administration and Gender Studies, heartily welcomed the guest of honour – Dr Devaiah NG, Program Director for BALLB and BBA LLB in Alliance School of Law. The format for the debate was 1 v 1. There were total of 68 participants and the event was conducted in two rounds. In the first round, every participant competed against one another and in round two, the top 8 of those 68 participants were selected as the finalists. Round one was distributed in three panels and in each of the panels, different judges were there to judge the debate. Each participant got a maximum of 7 minutes for presentation and 2+1 minutes for rebuttals and panel questions. The topics in the debate were based on marital rape, the LGBTQIA+ community, parental leave, stricter rape laws and menstrual leave.

Panel 1 began on 30th August 2024 at 9 am and lasted till 1 pm with presentations of 28 participants, where the panellists were Mr. Aditya Arora and Dr. Smita Satapathy.

Panel 2 commenced from 2 pm to 4:30 pm, with presentations of 24 partic, where panellists were Dr. Rajat Banerjee and Mr. Abhinav Kumar.

On 31st August 2024, panel 3 of round 1 lasted from 9 am to noon, where the remaining participants presented. It was day two of round 1, which was judged by Dr Abhishek Srivastava and Ms Yamini Chandra Prabha.

Once round one was concluded the members of the centre calculated the results and selected the top 8 participants who qualified for the final round and their names were announced.

Then draw of lots was conducted to let the top 8 participants know their topics which were:

Age of consent in India: Protecting the vulnerable or criminalizing consensual relationships
Unified LGBTQIA+ identity or distinct representation: finding the right approach
Men’s Right in Child Custody, Maintenance, and Domestic Violence Support: Achieving Equity or Undermining Woman’s Protection
The final round was judged by Dr Rajat Banerjee, Dr MD Baharul Islam, Dr Showkat Ahmad Wani. Participants beautifully presented their topics. The final round was completed by 3:30. At the last 3 winners were announced.

3rd place: Aashika Parveen, 2nd year BA LLB
2nd place: Lia Mariam George, 1st year BA LLB
1st place: Khushi Tripathi, 3rd year BA LLB
The ceremony concluded by judges giving their thoughtful insights and Dr. Sanjay Kumar Panday delivers a thank you note to the judges and by encouraging the debaters.