Chennai Students win moot court on POK

Three law students from Chennai have bagged second runners up award at a moot court contest on Pakistan Occupied Kashmir (POK) after debating complex issues such as referendum in Kashmir, Pakistan's claim for the territory and international human rights law.

The moot proposition presented to the team from the School of Excellence in Law, the Tamil Nadu Dr Ambedkar Law University, was India's petition before the International Court of Justice (ICJ) staking claim over POK.

At stake was the prestigious Justice PN Bhagwati trophy for international moot court competition conducted by the Bharati Vidyapeeth Deemed University, Pune.

The team comprising Gopika Sasidharan, Sneha Pradeep and Niveda C P bagged the second runners up award at a competition that saw teams from all over the world such as Kenya, England and Dhaka.

Participating teams were to argue the Kashmir issue and India's case in ICJ that the POK belonged to it. Obviously, Pakistan opposed the demand, saying a referendum, historical background of the region and legal issues were against India's position. The Chennai team then pointed out that the referendum had no legal sanctity and hence an unreliable event.

The Chennai team then came behind National Law University, Bhopal and Amity law school, Delhi. Recently the team bagged the prestigious Justice V R Krishna Iyer Rolling Trophy at Thiruvananthapuram, Kerala. So far, the team has won four important moot competitions, the other two being Saveetha School of Law contest and the Rizvi Memorial Trophy in Mumbai.

The international competition on human rights was inaugurated by Justice V Gopala Gowda, judge, Supreme Court.