5th MAHAMANA MALAVIYA BANARAS HINDU UNIVERSITY NATIONAL MOOT COURT COMPETITION FACULTY OF LAW, Organised By

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1 5th MAHAMANA MALAVIYA NATIONAL MOOT COURT COMPETITION Organised By FACULTY OF LAW, BANARAS HINDU UNIVERSITY

2 5th MAHAMANA MALAVIYA National Moot Court Competition Faculty of Law, BHU, Varanasi 25th & 26th March, MOOT - PROPOSITION 1. Scindia, a nation worth a population of more than a billion people lies in the southern region of Asia. The country has a rich history and has seen a huge upsurge in development in the recent times. The development spans across multiple sectors. One such sector is Information Technology which has picked up pace due to multiple initiatives taken by the Central Government in the recent years. The country has a varied demography spread across urban and rural living conditions, sometimes even in the extremes. Thus, Information Technology has spread its reach in a non-uniform manner, although with the recent steps taken by the Government, the people of the nation have begun to accept it into their lives, replacing their orthodox methods which they had been habitual of. Owing to the growing inculcation of Information Technology across the country, multiple institutes have come up to impart the knowledge of this relatively new branch of study. However, a few of the universities in the country had been the pioneers of in the field of IT in the country, boasting of recognition on a global level. 2. Raghvan Dutta and Karan Bansal are two Scindian nationals who recently obtained their bachelors degree in Cyber Law and Information Security from the renowned Scindian Institute of Information Technology (SIIT). Both the boys were exceptionally bright and were considered a prodigy, particularly when it came to finding loopholes in cyber security. They had had an eventful time in their college, their journey blotted only by a stray incident of disciplinary sa tio he their atte pt at reaki g i to the U i ersity s Cy er Net ork as dealt ith strictly. The duo, however, passed with flying colours and found themselves eligible for the highly appreciated Scindian Institute of Cyber Security (SICS) for their post graduate program, which they applied for, and were selected upon clearing the required interview. PAGE NO. 2

3 3. Scindia has entered into an international treaty under which each participating nation is required to submit a review of cyber security practices adopted in its integral national functions and any upgrades that a nation may have made in its cyber security mechanisms to bring it at par with the suggested international standards. The Convention aims to improve the international scenario of cyber security measures adopted by all of its participant nations. This year, the responsibility of preparing the draft of the review had been awarded to the SICS, the institute being of national repute and importance and having the requisite command over the subject matter. The institute worked in close correspondence with certain designated officials of the Government, to facilitate the preparation of the said draft and to provide to SICS, the information it might require. 4. The Scindian Space Research Organisation (SSRO) is the space agency of the Government of Republic of Scindia headquartered in Periyana, a state in the southern part of the country, with a vision to "harness space technology for national development", while pursuing space science research and planetary exploration. In March 2016, the SSRO, in the wake of the recent events of cyber attacks on multiple websites of national importance, had decided to take extensive measures to secure its online presence. Thus, after a substantial upgrade of its existing cyber security mechanism, it released a public notification announcing a reward of 1,00,000 in its national currency to anybody who could find vulnerabilities in their security mechanism. Those interested were required to fill an online form hosted on a third party website and subsequently pay an online fee of 500 in the national currency after which they were to be allotted a Unique Participant Code (UPC) by way of which they would be identified and be able to claim the prize, as the case may be. Thousands of people reportedly applied for the o petitio ut ere u a le to ir u e t the Orga isatio s se urity easures put i to place. The contest was subsequently announced closed on August 31st, Raghvan along with Karan, during their initial year at the SICS, had applied for the competition i the o th of Ju e, 6 to try a d fi d a loophole i SSRO s se urity. Although the upgraded system proved to be too foolproof for them and they could not succeed in their attempt. However, they had continued to modify their method of attacks and were expectant of a positive result on their end. On the second Sunday of October 2016, the duo decided to give their old endeavour another shot and tried a multi-vector attack on the servers of SSRO. One of PAGE NO. 3

4 their multiple modus operandi in this attack was to introduce a self-programmed virus through an which, when accessed, was programmed to make its way into the servers of SSRO and facilitate the success of the multi-vector attack, launched from the outside by the two. 6. This ethod of atta k e a e su essful a d the duo gai ed a ess to SSRO s ser ers o the said date. However, once the breach was successful, the virus began to behave in a manner not foreseen by the perpetrators of the attack. It affected multiple websites hosted by the SSRO and began to make innumerable copies of the extremely confidential data that had been housed inside the servers. Raghvan and Karan, monitoring this breach from their end, noticed this unprecedented behavior of the virus and were alarmed. Their test runs with the virus had only showed them that the virus was capable of facilitating multi-vector attacks and taking down the websites hosted on the infected server. 7. Faced with an unforeseen behavior of their program which they now knew would land them in the midst of extremely dire circumstances, they sent out an anonymous mail, addressed to the SSRO, containing the coding of the virus and every other detail they thought would be helpful in terminating the attack. However, because the servers at SSRO had been clogged, this message did not get through until it was too late. Multiple websites hosted on the servers had stopped showing up and the SSRO servers had become jammed. Following this, emergency response to the attack was triggered and the servers at SSRO shut down to prevent further damage. 8. Following the reboot of the servers and the restoration of order, the mail which had been sent anonymously by the two was received and tracked by way of the IP address, which directed the Authorities to Raghvan Dutta and Karan Bansal, both of whom were subsequently arrested and charged under Sections 66, 66F of the Information Technology (Amendment) Act, 2008 and Section 441 of the Scindian Penal Code. The Ld. Sessions Court, upon perusing the facts and the evidence on record, concluded that there was a clear lack of intention on the part of the Accused and thus, they were acquitted under all of the charges labeled against them. 9. The State filed a appeal agai st the Ld. Sessio s Court s erdi t i the High Court of Periya a. The High Court, in its judgement stated that the mere access by the two of them was an access without authorization and that the breach of confidentiality of the files was deemed sufficient PAGE NO. 4

5 to find the two guilty under the charged sections. The judgement of the Sessions Court was thus reversed and Raghvan Dutta and Karan Bansal were found guilty under Sections 66, 66F of the Information Technology (Amendment) Act, 2008 and Section 441 of the Scindian Penal Code. They have now approached the Supreme Court of Scindia. 10. Voice of Netizens is a Non-Governmental Organisation (NGO) registered under the relevant Act of the country. The Organisation has an eventful history, and has often been in the news for standing up to the Government for the basic rights of the people while on the Internet. The NGO believes that any arbitrary law restricting free speech on the internet is a bane, often leaving the affected people in a position from where they are unable to raise a voice against the oppressive laws. 11. The Organisation observed that a number of detentions across various states of the country had been made using Section 66F of the Information Technology (Amendment) Act, 2008, for offences ranging from serious acts such as compromising the security of the State to acts of defamation or contempt of court, comparatively less in their seriousness. The blanket usage of this provision, across offences so vastly varied in their severity, was viewed as a glaring transgression of the rights of the people in the latter cases. Perturbed over the growing number of such incidents, Voice of Netizens decided to file a Public Interest Litigation before the Supreme Court of Scindia challenging the constitutional validity of the said provision. 12. The petition was admitted before the Apex Court and was clubbed with the matter of Mr. Dutta and Mr. Bansal, the Court believing that it was imperative to decide the constitutionality of Section 66F of the IT Act in order to administer justice to the matter concerning the SSRO. The atter is therefore pe di g efore the Ho le Supre e Court of S i dia. 13. All the relevant laws of Scindia are pari materia to those of India. PAGE NO. 5

6 5th MAHAMANA MALAVIYA NATIONAL MOOT COURT COMPETITION Organised By FACULTY OF LAW, BANARAS HINDU UNIVERSITY

7 5th MAHAMANA MALAVIYA National Moot Court Competition Faculty of Law, BHU, Varanasi 25th & 26th March, REGISTRATION FORM (Please fill this form using capital letters to ensure legibility.) INSTITUTION DETAILS Name. Contact No. (Faculty Co-coordinator). . TEAM DETAILS Speaker 1: Name. Contact No.. . Speaker 2: Name. Contact No.. . PAGE NO. 2

8 Researcher: Name. Contact No.. . Contact Person: (A member of the team with whom all Competition related communication shall be made.) Name. Contact No.. . REGISTRATION FEE: Please find enclosed, the Demand Draft No. dated in favour of 5th Mahamana Malaviya National Moot Court Competition, payable at BHU, Varanasi for Rs. 2,500/- (Rupees Two Thousand Five Hundred only) as the registration fee for the 5th Mahamana Malaviya National Moot Court Competition. (Signature and Seal of the Head of Institution) PAGE NO. 3

9 5th MAHAMANA MALAVIYA NATIONAL MOOT COURT COMPETITION Organised By FACULTY OF LAW, BANARAS HINDU UNIVERSITY

10 5th MAHAMANA MALAVIYA National Moot Court Competition Faculty of Law, BHU, Varanasi 25th & 26th March, RULES AND REGULATIONS 1. GENERAL: 1.1 ADMINISTRATION: The 5th Mahamana Malaviya National Moot Court Competition, 2017, is to be organised and administered by Faculty of Law, Banaras Hindu University, Varanasi. 1.2 DATE: - The Competition shall be held on 25th March, 2017 and 26th March, 2017 at the Law School (Faculty of Law), Banaras Hindu University, Varanasi, Uttar Pradesh LANGUAGE: - The official language for the Competition shall be English only. 1.4 STRUCTURE OF THE COMPETITION: - The Competition shall consist of a Resea che s Test, Two 2 P eli i a Rou ds, the ualificatio fo which is o Fi st come-first serve basis and three (3) Advanced Rounds viz. Quarter-Finals, Semi-Finals and Finals. 1.5 DRESS CODE: - All the participants are required to adhere to the following dress code while their present in any court room during the Competition: i. Girls: - Black and White Western Formals. ii. Boys: - Black and White Western Formals. PAGE NO. 1

11 2. PARTICIPATION AND ELIGIBILITY: 2.1 ELIGIBILITY: - Students pursuing Three (3) Year or Five (5) Year Courses of LL.B. Degree in the Academic Year from any recognised School/College/University in India or abroad are eligible to participate. Law 2.2 Each participating University shall send only One (1) Team to the Competition. Team members must be bonafide students of the University they are representing. Once registered (after Final Registrations), a Team will not be permitted to vary their composition in any manner. 2.3 TEAM COMPOSITION: - The participating team shall comprise a minimum of two (2) and a maximum of three (3) members. In a team of two (2) members, both the members shall be designated as Speakers and one of the two Speakers shall be considered as Researcher (which is to be notified at the time of Final Registrations). In a team of three (3) members, two members shall be designated as Speakers and the third member of the team shall be designated as a Researcher. The Organizing Committee reserves the Right to bar any team from participating in the Competition. 3. REGISTRATION: 3.1 Interested teams are required to register themselves by filling up the form so provided and subsequently mailing it to bhumoot2017@gmail.com with the subject Provisio al Registration for 5th Mahamana Malaviya Natio al Moot Court Co petitio 7, latest by 15th February, On receiving the Provisional Registrations, the first 24 teams to send their forms shall be provisionally registered, subject to arrival of the hard copies of their form and draft. 3.3 Interested teams must confirm their participation through an , latest by 18th February, 2017 by sending scanned copy of Registration Form and Demand Draft of Rs (Two Thousand Five Hundred Rupees only) drawn in favour of 5th Maha a a Malaviya Natio al Moot Court Co petitio, payable at State Bank of India, B.H.U. Branch, Varanasi. The subject of the mail must read Registratio for 5th Maha a a Malaviya National Moot Court Competition Once the relevant documents in the hard copy form are received, your registration process is deemed to be complete. PAGE NO. 2

12 3.5 The Hard Copy of Demand Draft along with the Registration Form and Travel Plan (which shall be mailed to you once the soft copy of your documents is received) must reach the following address: Convener, Mahamana Moot Court Competition, Law School (Faculty of Law), Banaras Hindu University, Varanasi by 25th February, After receiving the Hard Copies as mentioned in Rule-3.5, the process of registration shall be deemed to be completed and teams would be allotted a Tea will be notified to them through an . Code which 4. MEMORIAL PARTICULARS: 4.1 MEMORIAL SUBMISSION: Each team participating in the Competition must prepare one Memorial on behalf of Petitioner(s)/Appellant(s)/Applicant(s) and one on behalf of the Defendant/Respondent(s) Each team must send the soft copies of each side of Memorials (One (1) in MS Word.doc/.docx format and One (1) in.pdf format) for evaluation by 15th March, 2017 before 11:59 P.M. to bhumoot2017@gmail.com with the subject [Team Code] Memorial for Appellants/Respondents. The file names of the electronic copies of the Memorials must contain only the Team Code and the side being represented in the following format: [Team Code] - Memorial for [The Applicable Side]. For e a ple, Tea Code A-14 Me o ial fo Appella t Memorials submitted beyond the deadline shall incur a liability of 04 Marks for each day of delay. However, teams submitting soft copies of memorials any time after 19th March, 2017 will be subject to immediate disqualification. No further extensions will be granted with respect to this deadline Each team has to submit Six (6) Hard Copies for each side of the Memorial, which must be reach the following address: Convener, Mahamana Moot Court Competition, Law School (Faculty of Law), Banaras Hindu University, Varanasi before 22nd March, PAGE NO. 3

13 4.1.5 Memorials submitted will be evaluated according to Rule Applicants may take note that Soft and Hard Copies of the Memorials submitted by them should be identical. Any discrepancy in this regard would result in immediate disqualification from the Competition. 4.2 MEMORIAL FORMAT: All the pages of the Memorial must be of A4 Size with equal margin on each side The text font for the Mai Body must be Times New Roman, Size 12, with 1.5 Line Spacing. The text font for the Footnotes must be Times New Roman, Size 10, with 1.0 Line Spacing. Character Spacing should not be condensed in any manner. Margins should be 1 Inch on each side Footnotes must not be explanatory in nature. Illustrative example of an acceptable footnote: A v. B, AIR 1973 SC 22, [hereinafter X]. Illustrative example of an unacceptable footnote: A v. B, AIR 1973 SC 22, [hereinafter X] (holding that the Right to Information Act was in fact against the express provisions of Art. 14 of the Constitution of India) Teams shall cite authorities in the Memorial using footnotes following the Harvard Bluebook 19th Edition and the footnoting must be uniform throughout the Memorandum The Memorials shall be Spiral Bou d. The following colour scheme shall be followed for the Cover Page of the Memorial: Petitioner: Blue Respondent: Red 4.3 MEMORIAL CONTENT: The Memorials shall necessarily consist of only and only the following sections: (a). Cover Page; (b). Table of Contents; (c). List of Abbreviations; (d). Index of Authorities (with Page Number where the authority has been cited); PAGE NO. 4

14 (e). Statement of Jurisdiction; (f). Statement of Facts (not exceeding 2 Pages); (g). Arguments Presented (Statement of Issues); (h). Summary of Arguments (not exceeding 2 Pages); (i). Arguments Advanced (not exceeding 20 Pages); (j). Prayer (not exceeding 1 Page) Each Memorial shall have the following and only the following on its cover page: (a). The Team Code on the upper right hand corner of the Cover Page; (b). The Name and Place of the Forum; (c). The relevant legal provision under which it is filed; (d). Name of parties and their status; (e). Memorial Filed on Behalf of. 4.4 EVALUATION: The maximum score for each Memorial shall be 100 points. The memorials shall be evaluated on the following criteria: Knowledge of Law and Facts 25 Points Proper and Articulate Analysis 25 Points Extent and Use of Research 20 Points Clarity and Organization 20 Points Grammar and Style 10 Points 4.5 PENALTIES: Not following the instructions regarding Memorials in these Rules will lead to the following penalties - Late Submission PAGE NO Marks each day (disqualification after 4 days).

15 Exceeding Page Limits 01 Mark per exceeding page. Failure to include the required information on the Cover Page 01 Mark per violation. Failure to comply Footnote standards, Font Size, Font Style, Line Spacing, Margins 0.50 Marks per violation. Failure to use correct Colour Coding 02 Marks per Memorial. 5. STRUCTURE OF THE COMPETITION: 5.1 RESEARCHERS TEST: a. The Researchers Test shall be conducted on 24th March, 2017 from 06:00 pm to 07:00 pm. b. Every Team member designated as the Researcher has to be present at the time of the Resea che s Test. If a Researcher does not participate i the Resea che s Test, their team shall cease to be a contender for the Best Researcher Prize. c. The test shall contain questions related to the Moot Proposition and the relevant laws applicable. 5.2 ORAL ROUND PROCEDURES: A. General Procedures: a. The teams shall be seeded into Six (6) Groups on the basis of their reporting at the Registration-Desk on the Date of Competition. b. The Memorials shall be exchanged after the Registration on 24th March, PAGE NO. 6

16 c. There shall be two Preliminary Rounds, a Quarter-Final Round, a Semi-Final Round and a Final Round. If the number of teams participating is less than twelve, there shall be no Quarter-Final Round. d. Two (2) members, and no more than Two (2) members, from each Team shall make Oral Pleadings during the Rounds. e. Prior to the beginning of the Oral Rounds, each Team shall inform the Court Officers how it wishes to allocate their time. e.g., For the Preliminary Rounds, how the 20 minutes allotted to the Team would be allocated among (a) its First Speaker, (b) its Second Speaker, and (c) Rebuttal (by Plaintiff) or Sur-rebuttal (by Defendant). No single Speaker shall plead for more than twelve (12) minutes, excluding the time for rebuttal. B. Procedures for Oral Submissions: a. Each team will get a total of 20 minutes (in Preliminary and Quarter-Final Rounds) and 30 minutes (in Semi-Finals, and Final Rounds), to present their case. This time will include Rebuttal and Sur-rebuttal time (if permitted by the judge(s)). b. The Applicants/Petitioners/Appellants shall submit their arguments first followed by the Respondents. Thereafter, the Applicants/Petitioners/Appellants shall have the option of submitting rebuttals. c. The division of time per speaker is left to the discretion of the team subject with a minimum of 6 minutes per speaker (in Preliminary and Quarter-Final Rounds) and 12 minutes per speaker (in Semi-Final and Final Rounds). d. Rebuttals can be assigned a time period of not more than 2 minutes (in Preliminary and Quarter-Final Rounds) and 3 minutes (in Semi-Final and Final Rounds). e. The oral arguments should be strictly confined to the issues presented in the memorial. The researcher may sit with the speakers during the orals. f. Maximum scores for the oral rounds shall be 100 points per speaker per judge. g. The speakers can provide the copies of the compendium, only if the same is permitted by the panel of judges in their respective court rooms. PAGE NO. 7

17 h. The oral rounds shall be judged on the following criteria: Knowledge of Law: 20 Points Application of Law to Facts: 20 Points Ingenuity and Ability to Answer to Questions: 20 Points Style, Poise, Courtesy and Demeanour: 20 Points Time Management: 10 Points Organization and coherence of the argument: 10 Points 5.3 Preliminary Round: a. The Preliminary Rounds are scheduled to take place on 25th March, b. There shall be two (2) Preliminary Rounds. All the selected Teams will be participating in the Preliminary Rounds. c. The Bench constituted for the Preliminary Rounds shall consist of at least two Judges. No Teams shall face the same Bench more than once in the Preliminary Rounds. d. The Teams shall be arguing on each side during the Preliminary Rounds. e. No two teams shall face each other more than once in the Preliminary Rounds. f. For the purposes of qualification from the Preliminary Rounds to the Quarter Finals, the number of rounds won by the team shall be considered as the first criteria. The second criteria shall be the total marks of both the speakers. In case of persisting tie, the team with better combined memorial score will qualify for the Quarter-Finals. 5.4 Quarter-Final Round: a. The Quarter-Final Rounds are scheduled to take place on 25th March, PAGE NO. 8

18 b. Total of Eight (8) Teams shall proceed to the Quarter-Final Rounds from the Preliminary Rounds, which shall comprise of four (4) matches. c. In the Quarter-Final Rounds, each Team shall argue on the side as decided on the basis of draw-of-lots. d. The Quarter-Final Rounds shall be in the nature of knock-outs, i.e., the team with the lesser score shall be evicted. e. The Winning Teams in each of the four Quarter-Final matches shall advance to the Semi-Final Rounds. 5.5 Semi-Final Round: a. The Semi-Final Rounds are scheduled to take place on 26th March, b. The Winning Teams in each of the Quarter-Finals shall compete according to the draw-of-lots. c. In the event that Quarter-Finals are not required to be held, the top four Teams shall proceed to the Semi-Final Rounds. For that purpose, the condition mentioned in 5.3 (f) shall apply. d. The Winning Team from each of the two Semi-Final Rounds shall advance to the Final Round. 5.6 Final Round: a. The Final Round is scheduled to take place on 26th March, b. For the Final Round, the Teams shall argue on the side as decided by the draw-oflots. c. The Winner of the Final Round (i.e., the team obtaining a Higher Score in the verbal arguments) shall be adjudged as the winner of the competition. PAGE NO. 9

19 NOTE: Use of any Electronic Gadgets is strictly prohibited during the course of Resea che s Test a d O al Rou ds. No -Compliance to the Rules shall leads to immediate disqualification. 6. SCOUTING: Teams shall not be allowed to observe the Oral Rounds of another team, unless they have been officially knocked-out of the Competition. Scouting is strictly prohibited. Scouting by any team shall result in disqualification. 7. ADHERENCE TO ANONYMITY: 7.1 During the Oral Rounds participating teams are supposed not to state their names or the names of the Institution to which they belong and instead must use the Team Code allotted to them. 7.2 The team shall not disclose their identity anywhere in their written Memorials and instead should use the Code allotted. 7.3 Failing any of the condition stipulated above shall result in immediate disqualification of the team. Decision of the Organizing Secretary in this regard would be final. 8. AWARDS: 8.1 Winners Trophy & Prize 8.2 Runner-Up Trophy & Prize 8.3 Best Memorial Trophy 8.4 Best Researcher Trophy & Prize 8.5 Best Student Advocate Trophy & Prize (To be judged on the basis of the preliminary round marks only.) 9. LOCAL HOSPITALITY: 9.1 Accommodation shall be provided to all teams by the Organisers from the evening of 24th March, 2017 to the evening of 26th March, PAGE NO. 10

20 9.2 Teams who intend to arrive prior to or leave after the specified dates are required to inform the Organizing Committee in advance. 9.3 Food and Transportation to and from the venue shall be provided to all the teams for the aforementioned duration and it shall be strictly limited to 03 Members per team. 10. ANY CLARIFICATIONS REGARDING THE COMPETITION CAN BE SOUGHT FROM: Regarding Travel and Accommodation: Mr. Mayank Pratap, Moot Court Committee (Tel: ) Mr. Pratyush Pandey, Moot Court Committee (Tel: ) Regarding any other query or help: Dr. Anil Kumar Maurya, Moot Court Committee (Tel: ) Mr. Anurag Pandey, Moot Court Committee (Tel: ) NOTE: All clarifications regarding the Moot Problem should be sent to by 22nd February, A full list of clarifications shall be sent to all the teams through by 25th February, 2017, if required. Organising Committee: Patron: Prof. G. C. Tripathi, Vice-chancellor, Banaras Hindu University Convener: Prof. D. K. Sharma, Head & Dean, Faculty of Law, BHU Organising Secretary: Prof. R. K. Murali Joint Secretary: Mr. Mayank Pratap, Dr. Anil Kumar Maurya Treasurer: Dr. Raju Majhi PAGE NO. 11

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22 5th MAHAMANA MALAVIYA NATIONAL MOOT COURT COMPETITION Organised By FACULTY OF LAW, BANARAS HINDU UNIVERSITY

23 5th MAHAMANA MALAVIYA National Moot Court Competition Faculty of Law, BHU, Varanasi 25th & 26th March, TIMELINE Release of Problem Saturday, February 5, Deadline for Provisional Registration Wednesday, February 15, Deadline for submission of soft copy of Registration Form, Demand Draft and Travel Form Deadline for submission of hard copy of Registration Form, Demand Draft and Travel Form Saturday, February 18, Saturday, February 25, Deadline for seeking clarifications Saturday, February 25, Release of final clarifications (if any) Tuesday, February 28, Deadline for submission of soft copy of Memorials Wednesday, March 15, Deadline for submission of hard copy of Memorials Wednesday, March 22, Inauguration Ceremony Saturday, March 25, Researchers Test Friday, March 24, Oral Rounds Saturday-Sunday, March 25-26, Valedictory Ceremony Sunday, March 26, 2017.