2nd National Lawyers' Parliament Festival 2024
About the Conference
The Second National Lawyers' Parliament Festival was held on 24th November 2024 at the India International Centre, New Delhi, bringing together some of the brightest legal minds from across the country.
The central agenda focused on an in-depth discussion of the New Criminal Laws, 2023 — a landmark legislative development in India's criminal justice system. The conference witnessed participation from around 500 lawyers and law students, carefully selected from a competitive pool of over 1,000 applicants.
The conference was guided by the leadership of Adv. Piyush Gupta, Founder Trustee of Lawyers for Justice, along with the exemplary vision of the Co-Founders of Rajdhani Yuva Sansad.
Through its commitment to open, respectful, and informed discourse, the conference created a platform for meaningful exchange of ideas. The suggestions and insights generated during the sessions were compiled into a comprehensive booklet and recommended to relevant stakeholders — demonstrating tangible, real-world policy impact.
What Made This Event Special
- ~500 lawyers and law students from 1,000+ applications — highly competitive selection
- Graced by Shri Arjun Ram Meghwal, Hon'ble Union Minister of Law and Justice
- Attended by Hon'ble Judges from the High Court of Delhi
- Agenda: India's New Criminal Laws, 2023 — deliberation and reform proposals
- Conference suggestions compiled into a policy booklet recommended to stakeholders
- Significant expansion from 1st edition in scale and prestige
Eminent Dignitaries
Inaugural Ceremony
The Inaugural Ceremony of the Second National Lawyers' Parliament Festival was graced by an eminent panel of legal luminaries, with Justice Chandradhari Singh, Justice Vikas Mahajan, and Shri Vijay Kumar Singh (Vice Chairperson, DDA) in attendance. Each address underscored the profound significance of the New Criminal Laws, 2023 for India's evolving justice landscape and the responsibility of the legal fraternity to engage critically and constructively with these reforms.
Their insights set a high intellectual tone for the day, emphasising the importance of rigorous, evidence-based deliberation and the role of the legal community in shaping a just and equitable society. With the lamp lighting complete and the stage set, NLPF 2024 launched into a full day of formal, high-quality debating sessions that would produce some of the most substantive legal discourse witnessed in a youth forum.
Three Sessions of Legal Deliberation
The first session examined the BNSS 2023, India's replacement for the Code of Criminal Procedure. Participants debated the modernisation of criminal procedure law, with particular focus on provisions that enhance the speed and efficiency of trials, the rights of the accused, and mechanisms for victim support and witness protection.
The debate was rich with divergent perspectives — with one camp celebrating the BNSS as a long-overdue step toward a more humane and efficient criminal justice system, and another raising concerns about the balance between rehabilitation and punishment, and whether the new framework sufficiently protects the rights of the marginalised.
The second session focussed on the BNS 2023, India's new substantive criminal code replacing the Indian Penal Code. Participants engaged in sharp debate on provisions relating to false criminal complaints, bail reform, and the newly introduced provisions addressing online hate crimes and sedition.
The discussion revealed deeply considered legal arguments on both sides of the reform agenda — with delegates emphasising the need for clarity, consistency, and proportionality in the new penal framework, and raising questions about how the new law will be interpreted and applied in practice by courts and enforcement agencies.
The third and final session addressed the BSA 2023, the new Indian evidence law. This session generated some of the most technically sophisticated arguments of the day, as delegates grappled with the admissibility and evidentiary weight of digital evidence, including the potential use of blockchain records and AI-generated content in criminal proceedings.
Witness protection emerged as a key concern, with delegates calling for comprehensive legislative safeguards to protect witnesses — particularly in cases of organised crime and terrorism — without undermining the right to cross-examination and a fair trial. The session produced forward-looking proposals that reflected a genuine engagement with the challenges of administering justice in the digital age.
Valedictory Ceremony
The Valedictory Ceremony brought together a distinguished panel — Shri Chetan Sharma (Additional Solicitor General), Shri Aman Preet Passy (IRS Officer), Prof. Seema Singh (Faculty of Law, DU), and Shri K.K. Manan (Senior Advocate & Former Chairman, BCD) — who collectively reflected on the remarkable quality of the day's deliberations. Each speaker lauded the depth of preparation, the civility of debate, and the intellectual seriousness brought by all participants.
Awards were distributed across categories recognising outstanding contributions to each of the three sessions, and a special acknowledgment was made of the policy booklet that would carry the Samvad's recommendations to relevant stakeholders. The ceremony concluded on a note of shared commitment to using law as an instrument of justice, equality, and social transformation.
Event in Pictures
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