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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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)

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

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.