STATEMENT OF PURPOSE

The Death Penalty issue has always been a very controversial topic in Indian legal
system among our policy makers which is natural considering it involves matter of life &
death for a person sentenced to death penalty. As of now, the jurisprudence over death
penalty in India is still evolving which can be observed through various decisions of the
Indian Supreme Court. However, if one goes by the researches on death penalty in India, one
would observe the harsh truth that the scourge of death penalty is severely faced by people
belonging to poor & minority communities since they lack institutional & financial backing
to defend their legal rights. Moreover, the current system of Indian criminal justice is
severally plagued by loopholes which further weaken chances of protecting innocent lives
from wrongful sentencing of death.

In such a bleak scenario, the workings of programmes like Project 39A serves as silver
lining in dark cloud for such people. Since the litigation in death penalty cases are highly
research intensive (Very important for it makes/mars the rights of accused persons) & deals
with nuances of Constitutional & Criminal law to a major extent, it is important that such task
would be fulfilled successfully by a person who has deep interest & experience in
Constitutional & Criminal Law.

Being a student of both Constitutional & Criminal Law, it would be a golden opportunity
for me to strive for legal rights of prisoners sentenced to death through part-time internship
under Project 39A. In fact, the nexus between Constitutional and Criminal law with respect to
directly affecting public live cannot be explained in better words than raging topic of Death
Penalty and that brings me a chance to showcase my legal knowledge and interest for the
betterment of human life.