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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.