The Punished

An ex-bandit fights the silence of prison life with her notebook and pen.

A family remembers the night their younger son was arrested for rape and murder.

A woman finds out from her fellow prisoners that she’s been given the death penalty.

Between 2013 and 2016, Project 39A, a research and litigation centre based out of National Law University, Delhi, conducted interviews with death-row prisoners and their families for the Death Penalty India Report, 2016. But the study also revealed something else. It brought to light the deeply human and personal stories of very real people and a snapshot of their fluctuating realities.

Based on these interviews, here are nineteen of those stories, written by Jahnavi Misra. Profoundly moving and illuminating, The Punished takes us on a journey into the lives and minds of men and women often demonised by society and discarded by the State.