Project 39A is inspired by Article 39-A of the Indian Constitution, a provision that furthers the intertwined values of equal justice and equal opportunity by removing economic and social barriers. These are constitutional values of immense importance, given the manner in which multiple disparities intersect to exclude vast sections of our society from effectively accessing justice.
Prisons, Courts & Legal Aid
The Fair Trial Fellowship Programme is an initiative instituted by the National Law University under Project 39A for providing legal representation to undertrial prisoners in Pune (Yerwada) and Nagpur Central Prisons. The Programme seeks to strengthen existing mechanisms of state-sponsored legal aid service delivery and support advocates empaneled with the District Legal Services Authorities and Taluka Legal Services Committee(LSAs) in their efforts to provide quality legal representation to undertrial prisoners.
Legal Representation for Undertrials in Maharashtra
In the period between 2018 to 2021, Fair Trial Fellowship Programme (Project 39A, National Law University Delhi) and Prayas (TISS Mumbai) reached out to 9570 undertrial prisoners across eight prisons in Maharashtra and facilitated release of 4504 undertrials by providing them legal representation (Programme). As part of their interventions, both organisations collected detailed data relevant to legal aid in the criminal justice system and analysed client and case data to empirically substantiate their learnings from the field.
Annual Statistics Report 2022
This is the seventh edition of the Death Penalty in India: Annual Statistics Report. This annual publication presents changes in the death row population as well as political and legal developments in the administration of the death penalty in India each year. The statistics are compiled through a combination of data mining of court websites, media monitoring and Right to Information applications.
Death Penalty and the Indian Supreme Court (2007-2021) is a report that analyses trends in the Supreme Court’s death penalty juriprudence, over fifteen years.
Death Penalty Sentencing in India’s Trial Courts (2018-2020) is a pan-India study that analyses all (306) trial court judgments which imposed the death sentence, between 2018 and 2020.
Death row to acquittal - Support Momin, Jaikam and Sajid
18th December 2021, Momin, Jaikam and Sajid walked out of Agra prison after being acquitted by the Supreme Court. They had spent 8 years in prison, including 6 on death row.
You can help them in rebuilding their lives.
On April 18, 2022 the Criminal Procedure (Identification) Act, 2022 became law upon receiving the President's assent, and replaced the Identification of Prisoners Act, 1920. Project 39A’s research brief examines the Act and its interaction with other laws that currently govern the field.
Deathworthy: A Mental Health Perspective of the Death Penalty presents empirical data on mental illness and intellectual disability among death row prisoners in India and the psychological consequences of living on death row. The report finds that an overwhelming majority of death row prisoners interviewed (62.2%) had a mental illness and 11% had intellectual disability.
Five Women React To A 2021 Sexual Assault Verdict
A woman is sexually assaulted. She reports the assault. What happens next? Is she listened to? Does she get justice? And what does she have to listen from everyone else?
The Punished is a collection of 19 short stories on death row prisoners and their families in India. The stories are based on the interviews conducted by Project 39A between 2013 and 2016, which later became the foundation for the Death Penalty India Report, 2016. Published by HarperCollins and authored by Jahnavi Misra, these are stories about fallible but morally and emotionally complex individuals, as unexceptional as any of us, but living in extraordinary situations, with death always around the corner.
The P39A Criminal Law Blog is an initiative by Project 39A, National Law University, Delhi which aims to facilitate academic engagement on issues related to the criminal justice system. We hope to trigger conversations that usher a deeper understanding of our criminal justice system and inspire critical thinking.
Dhananjoy Chatterjee was the first person to be judicially executed by India in the 21st century. Dhananjoy was executed for the rape and murder of Hetal Parekh, a 15 year old school girl in Kolkata. Although the crime occurred on 5th March, 1990, Dhananjoy was not executed until 2004.
488
PRISONERS CURRENTLY UNDER THE SENTENCE OF DEATH
Our publication covers movements in the death row population in India as well as political and legal developments in the administration of the death penalty and the criminal justice system. The statistics are compiled through a combination of processes such as data mining of court websites, media monitoring and Right to Information applications.
