The 39A Podcast
Project 39A is a criminal justice organisation based out of National Law University, Delhi, which provides pro-bono legal representation and engages in research on a variety of criminal justice issues. The 39A Podcast is our endeavour to make contemporary issues in criminal justice accessible. You can read more about us on our website, and follow us on social media
S1 E27 · Wed, January 29, 2025
T M Krishna: "Denying art is a justification of violence"
Why is artistic practice and expression important for incarcerated individuals? Tune into The 39A Podcast's latest featuring T M Krishna (Sumanasa Foundation) and Anup Surendranath (Project 39A) to hear what they have to say about the place art holds in society, the role it plays in totalising spaces like prisons, and about our important collaboration through the 'Art in Prisons' initiative. You can learn more about the initiative developed in collaboration by Project 39A and Sumanasa Foundation and executed with the invaluable support of art facilitators, institutional stakeholders and program coordinator Rahimunisa Begam on our website: https://www.project39a.com/art-in-pri... Chapters: 00:00 - 00:54 Highlights 00:54 - 02:30 What is Project 39A? 02:30 - 06:02 What is the Art in Prisons initiative? 06:02 - 13:53 Why is art important in Indian prisons? 13:53 - 17:28 What is the place of art in society? 17:28 - 22:50 Is prison a space of denying freedoms? 22:50 - 27:12 What was the approach to the larger initiative? 27:12 - 33:45 What was the impact of the program? 33:45 - 35:45 How can art impact an individual person? 35:45 - 37:06 How can mainstream art change its perception about incarcerated artists?
Mon, June 10, 2024
The Pune Porsche Case: Law and Realities of the Juvenile Justice System
Episode 26 of the 39A Podcast discusses the recent Pune Porsche case where a 17-year-old allegedly caused the death of two hapless victims while driving rashly and under the influence. The case has made waves in the media due to reports of preferential treatment and manipulation of evidence. However, the case also invokes questions of Juvenile Justice law which are largely unaddressed by mainstream media. In this podcast, Anup Surendranath converses with child rights experts— Bharati Ali, Swagata Raha and Mahesh Menon, who bring decades of experience with the juvenile justice system and analyse the legal and procedural aspects of juvenile justice in India. The discussion focuses on provisions for bail in the case of juvenile offenders, when can a child be tried as an adult, how the said determination is made, whether the mental capacity of the child can be determined, and the systemic issues in observation homes and places of safety. The conversation also delves into the more theoretical aspects of crime and punishment, and why there is a need to treat juvenile delinquents differently than adult offenders.
Mon, June 26, 2023
Piecemeal justice: Inadequacy of equating punishment with justice for victims’ families
Dr. Penelope Tong (Fieldwork Supervisor, Tata Institute of Social Sciences) discusses her doctoral research on the needs of families of murder victims in Mumbai, with Baljeet Kaur (former senior mitigation investigator at P39A). Dr. Tong’s research finds that most cases of murder arise due to escalation of interpersonal conflicts, particularly in socio-economically impoverished communities. Though the police are often approached at the first instance of strained interpersonal dynamics, they are ill-equipped to resolve and prevent further conflict. Further, in the aftermath of murder, victims’ families are forced to navigate emotional distress, alienation and an inaccessible legal system. For victims’ families to heal and move forward, a holistic recognition of their needs and a conception of justice that goes beyond punishing the offender, is required. Can the criminal justice system, as it stands today, address such complex needs and treat families of victims justly? In this podcast, Dr. Penelope Tong and Baljeet Kaur discuss the need for the criminal justice system to expand its imagination of justice for families of murder victims.
Thu, May 11, 2023
Terror Trials: Life and Law in Delhi’s Courts
In this podcast, Project 39A's Director (Sentencing) Neetika Vishwanath speaks to Dr. Mayur Suresh (Senior Lecturer, SOAS University of London) on his recently published book 'Terror Trials: Life and Law in Delhi's Courts'. The book is an ethnographic study of Delhi's Tis Hazari court over 14 months during which Dr. Suresh followed 18 terrorism trials. In this conversation, Dr. Suresh reflects on the relevance of ethnography as a method of legal research and the value of studying everyday life in trial courts. Looking beyond the exceptionalism framework in academia that is often used to describe terrorism laws and trials, ethnography allowed Dr. Suresh to capture ways in which terror accused use legal procedures and technicalities to engage with the law.
Fri, September 30, 2022
The Mandatory Death Penalty for Drug-Trafficking in Singapore: Effective or Excessive?
In this episode of the 39A Podcast, Neetika Vishwanath is in conversation with Kirsten Han, journalist and anti-depth penalty activist based in Singapore. In the backdrop of an alarming rate of executions in Singapore in 2022, Kirsten gives the listeners a first-hand account. The Podcast discusses the anti-drug trafficking law in Singapore, the 2012 amendment and its problematic implementation, discriminatory use of the death penalty, and hefty fines on death penalty lawyers. Kirsten also reflects on Singaporean government’s unverified assumption that the death penalty deters the use of drugs.
Fri, September 02, 2022
The Supreme Court’s PMLA judgement: Perspectives on the frailties of the PMLA
The widely critiqued Supreme Court decision in Vijay Mandanlal Chaudhary is pending review. In this context, Shri Singh and Maneka Khanna discuss broader issues with the Supreme Court’s judgement and the money laundering law, particularly, the grave implications of a special law devoid of clarity, certainty and workability. Mr Singh is a criminal defence lawyer, with extensive experience litigating white-collar crimes and offences under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act, 2002.
Mon, August 22, 2022
The Supreme Court’s PMLA judgement: Undermining the right against self-incrimination?
In this episode of the 39A Podcast, Aditya Mehta speaks to Senior Advocate Aabad Ponda about the limits of the recent Supreme Court judgement in addressing an accused’s right against self-incrimination. Access our exclusive coverage of the PMLA judgement here - www.p39ablog.com/2022/07/27/pmla-explained/
Thu, August 18, 2022
The Supreme Court’s PMLA Judgement: Insights for Defence Lawyers
In light of the recent Supreme Court judgement in Vijay Madanlal Chaudhary, Harsh Srivastava speaks to Arshdeep Singh Khurana about navigating future money-laundering cases from the perspective of a defence lawyer. Mr. Singh represented a number of petitioners in this case, and has an extensive legal practice in the courts of New Delhi, and Punjab and Haryana.
Thu, August 11, 2022
The Supreme Court's PMLA Judgment: The Paths Not Taken
In light of Supreme Court's recent judgment upholding various provisions of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act, 2002 Shivani Misra of Project 39A speaks to Senior Advocate Aman Lekhi on what the Supreme Court could have done differently while balancing the rights of the individual against the State's power. Visit https://p39ablog.com/2022/07/27/pmla-explained/
Mon, August 08, 2022
Access to safe abortion in India: A fraught reality
In light of the Supreme Court quashing the Delhi High Court judgement disallowing the termination of pregnancy after 24 weeks; Anupriya Dhonchak speaks to Dr. Aparna Chandra about the undue barriers that hinder access to safe abortion in India. In the backdrop of the US Supreme Court's reversal of Roe v. Wade, this conversation considers the impact of paternalistic state policies in undermining the bodily integrity and personal autonomy of women, and argues for locating the right to abortion within the framework of substantive equality.
Wed, June 29, 2022
Women's Liberation And The Carceral Project
Hrishika Jain and Prof. Aya Gruber discuss the carceral form of feminism's engagement with sexual violence, its implications for victims and feminism's own transformative goals, and the unfulfilled promise of the #MeToo movement as an alternative form of feminist politics.
Thu, May 26, 2022
Intellectual Disability and the Death Penalty
In this episode of the 39A Podcast, CP Shruthi speaks to Professor Marc Tassé, from the Department of Psychology and Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Health at The Ohio State University. He is also the Director of the Ohio State Nisonger Center, a University Center for Excellence in Developmental Disabilities. Professor Tassé's clinical interests include the diagnosis of intellectual disability (ID), the assessment and treatment of problem behaviour and psychiatric disorders in individuals with ID or Autism Spectrum Disorder. In this episode, Shruthi speaks to Prof Tassé about what intellectual disability is, who can diagnose it, the evolution of jurisprudence on Intellectual disability in the US and the challenges associated with presenting Intellectual Disability in court in the Indian context. The podcast may be relevant for Judges, lawyers, mental health professionals and other specialists working on cases involving death sentences or death-eligible offences.
Thu, May 12, 2022
India’s Sedition Law: the story so far, and what happens now?
In this episode of the 39A Podcast, Adrija Ghosh speaks to Lubhyathi Rangarajan, who is a lawyer and the Editor-Databases, of the Decade of Darkness, Article 14’s sedition database project, which makes data on all sedition cases registered under Section 124A of the IPC, since 2010, publicly available. They talk about the developments in the Supreme Court hearings on the batch of petitions challenging the constitutionality of Section 124A and what it means for the same to be diluted, repealed or struck down. Access the Article 14's sedition database here: https://sedition.article-14.com/
Fri, May 06, 2022
Deviant Female Sexuality And Criminal Law In India
"In this episode of the P39A Podcast, Adrija Ghosh speaks to Dr. Durba Mitra, author of the book Indian Sex Life: Sexuality and the Colonial Origins of Modern Social Thought (2020). They talk about the idea of 'deviant female sexuality' that became foundational to modern social thought in colonial India, and continues to be used in contemporary India to regulate and control the lives and bodies of women and sexual minorities."
Mon, January 31, 2022
Use of Facial Recognition Technology in the Criminal Justice System
In this episode of the P39A Podcast, Devina Malaviya speaks to Philip Mayor of American Civil Liberties Union, Michigan about the use of facial recognition technology (FRT) in the criminal justice system. They discuss the fallibility of the technology and how its use impacts the investigation process. They further explore FRT's tendency to give the colour of science to biases present in the system.
Wed, December 08, 2021
Media Ethics and Crime Reporting
In this episode of the P39A Blog podcast, Dr. Amrita Ibrahim, Dhanya Rajendran and Hartosh Singh Bal discuss the institutional incentives and assumptions that inform the creation of a media 'crime story'. The conversation explores the lens that the media adopts in reporting crime, and the perspectives it leaves out, and highlights possible paths towards a more sensitised and ethical coverage of criminality.
Tue, August 31, 2021
Understanding Forensic DNA Profiling in India
What is forensic DNA profiling? Can guilt be proved on the basis of DNA evidence? How is DNA profiling different from DNA databasing? In this episode of 39A podcast, Devina Malaviya is in conversation with Shreya Rastogi, head of forensics and litigation at Project 39A and Devina Sikdar, forensic biologist who is part of the Project 39A forensics research team. They discuss the science behind forensic DNA profiling and its scientific and legal practice in India. The conversation further looks at the DNA Technology (Use & Application) Regulation Bill, 2019 and how the current version of the Bill overlooks the issues with the forensic science system currently functioning in India.
Fri, August 27, 2021
Impact of the Pandemic on Criminal Law Practitioners
How challenging has it been for criminal law practitioners in terms of effective access to clients and online court proceedings? In this episode of the 39A Podcast, Vibhor Jain is in conversation with Abhishek Dixit, Sahana Manjesh, Seema Mishra and Somnath Vatsa, criminal law practitioners in Lucknow, Mumbai, Delhi and Ahmedabad respectively. They share their experiences on the varied approaches undertaken by each jurisdiction in dealing with the challenges posed by the pandemic and the impact of the transition from physical to online proceedings on access to justice. The conversation unfolds the limitations and gaps of online proceedings causing delay and dilution of legal standards.
Wed, August 18, 2021
Effects of Covid-19 on the Prison System
In this episode of The 39A Podcast, Professor Vijay Raghavan and Dr. Anup Surendranath discuss the institutional imagination of prisons in India and the manner in which it has interacted with the COVID-19 pandemic. The conversation looks at whether the measures taken by prisons to control the pandemic were at best management strategies and failed to incorporate ‘right to health’ perspectives.
Tue, August 17, 2021
Bail Under UAPA - Nitya Ramakrishnan In Conversation With Trisha Chandran [Ep. 8]
In this episode of The 39A Dialogues, Senior Advocate and criminal law practitioner Ms. Nitya Ramakrishnan discusses what sets apart the stringent bail provision under the Unlawful Activities Prevention Act, 1967 and makes it almost impossible for an accused to secure bail once charged for offences of ‘terrorist activities’ and ‘terrorist organization’ under the Act.
Tue, August 17, 2021
In Conversation with Babloo Loitongbam and Henri Tiphagne on Support to Victims of Torture [Ep. 7]
In this episode of the 39A Podcast, commemorating the International Day in Support of Victims of Torture, human rights lawyers Babloo Lointongbam (Human Rights Alert, Manipur) and Henri Tiphagne (People's Watch, Tamil Nadu) share their experiences of working, supporting and building relationships with victims of torture.
Tue, August 17, 2021
The 39A Podcast [Ep. 6]- Discharge in Summons Cases: From K M Mathew to Adalat Prasad and Beyond
In the sixth episode of The 39A Podcast, criminal law expert Siddharth Aggarwal argues that the stage of "discharge" is an integral feature of all criminal trials and cannot be arbitrarily eliminated from summons triable cases.
Tue, August 17, 2021
The 39A Podcast [Episode 5]: Prof. Probal Chaudhuri on the Dhananjoy Chatterjee case
In this episode of the 39A Podcast, Neetika Vishwanath from Project 39A, National Law University, Delhi talks to Prof. Probal Chaudhuri, Indian Statistical Institute, Calcutta. In this converstaion, we discuss the case of Dhananjoy Chatterjee, who was executed at Alipore Central Correctional Home in 2004. Prof. Chaudhuri along with Prof. Debasis Sengupta re-investigated the case and found significant concerns with the evidence.
Mon, September 02, 2019
39A Podcast - Dr. Soumitra Pathare on Mental Health and Criminal Justice [Episode 4]
In this episode of the 39A Podcast, Maitreyi Misra from Project 39A, National Law University, Delhi, interviews Dr. Soumitra Pathare, consultant psychiatrist and Director, Centre for Mental Health Law and Policy, ILS, Pune. In this conversation, we explore the criminal justice system's misconceived approach to issues of mental health and the misconceptions surrounding persons with mental illness implicated in it.
Thu, July 11, 2019
39A Podcast - In Conversation with Justice Kurian Joseph on the Death Penalty [Episode 3]
In this episode of the 39A Podcast, Dr. Anup Surendranath from Project 39A, National Law University, Delhi, interviews Justice Kurian Joseph, former judge of the Supreme Court of India between March 2013 and November 2018. In this conversation, we use the last judgment that Justice Joseph delivered as a judge of the Supreme Court to reflect on the administration of the death penalty in India. Production: Anup Surendranath (Executive Director - Project 39A) Priya Naresh (Podcast Producer) Ruchi Chaudhury (Communications Associate - Project 39A) Hari Om (Technical Assistance)
Tue, June 11, 2019
39A Podcast - Bollywood's Law and Justice [Episode 2]
In this episode of the 39A Podcast, we interview film critic and journalist, Tanul Thakur who discusses Bollywood’s depiction of law and justice. We discuss the idea of the justice system as represented in mainstream Hindi cinema - what the ‘system’ means to people and who is seen as part of it. We discuss how ‘justice’ plays out in Bollywood. How different is it from legal justice? Finally, we discuss the larger impact of commonly used visual narratives and the contemporary social discourse that it seems to reflect. Tanul Thakur interviewed by Ruchi Chaudhury, Project 39A. Producer: Priya Naresh Technical Assistance: Baldev Singh Works that aided research for this episode: ‘Vigilantism and Mob Justice Are Glorified by Bollywood and That Is a Big Problem’ (The Wire) by Anushka Shah ‘Portrayal of Police Torture In Hindi Films and Television Serials and its impact on Children’ (CEHAT & CVICT) by Kiran Shaheen ‘The politics of India’s conventional cinema’ (1999) by Fareed Kazmi
Fri, September 07, 2018
39A Podcast - Beggary, Torture, Insanity and Burari [Episode 1]
In the first episode of the 39A Podcast, we interview neuropsychiatrist, Dr. Sanjeev Jain who discusses the concept of shared delusion and insanity in light of the recent mass hangings in Burari. We also discuss recent judgements in the area of torture, insanity and the Delhi High Courts decriminalisation of begging. Hosted by - Yash S Vijay and Neetika Vishwanath, Project 39A. Dr. Sanjeev Jain interviewed by Maitreyi Misra, Project 39A.
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