Project 39 A
Project 39 A
Subject :Polity
Section: Constitution
According to the Annual Death Penalty Report, 2022 by Project 39A, a criminal reforms advocacy group with the National Law University, Delhi. trial courts awarded 165 death sentences in 2022, the highest in over two decades.
Details:
In September last year, a three-judge bench headed by then Chief Justice of India U U Lalit, in a suo motu case, had referred the issue of reconsidering death penalty sentencing to a five-judge bench. The court had said that a “uniform approach” is needed on “granting real and meaningful opportunity” to convicts on death row.
In May last year, another three-judge bench led by Justice Lalit had mandated trial courts to collect psychiatric and psychological evaluation of the convict before holding that there is no possibility of reform and awarding death sentence.
Project 39A
It 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. Using empirical research to re-examine practices and policies in the criminal justice system, Project 39A aims to trigger new conversations on legal aid, torture, forensics, mental health in prisons, and the death penalty.
Article 39 a
- The State shall secure that the operation of the legal system promotes justice, on a basis of equal opportunity, and shall, in particular, provide free legal aid, by suitable legislation or schemes or in any other way, to ensure that opportunities for securing justice are not denied to any citizen by reason of economic or other disabilities.
- The article was inserted by the Constitution (Forty-second Amendment) Act, 1976