The Square Circle Clinic, NALSAR

Impact

The Clinic’s pro bono representation of death row prisoners led to 33 acquittals and 53 commutations. Through the Fair Trial Programme in collaboration with the Maharashtra government, we have secured the release of over 1,625 undertrials from Pune and Nagpur Central Prisons since 2019.

Recognition and Awards

  1. Death Penalty and the Indian Supreme Court (2007-2021) was cited by Hon’ble Justice D.Y. Chandrachud in a three judge bench decision authored by him in Sundar @ Sundarrajan v. State of Tamil Nadu (March 2023).
  2. Death Penalty India Report was cited by the report of the 262nd Law Commission of India on the death penalty (2015).
  3. Our reports have been cited by the United Nations Secretary General and the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (UN OHCHR).
  4. Ms. Shreya Rastogi, our Director of Litigation and Forensics was awarded the 2024 Magnus Mukoro Award for Integrity in Forensic Science by the DNA Unit of the New York Legal Aid Society in New York for her pioneering work on forensics in the Indian criminal justice system.
  5. Ms. Maitreyi Misra, our Director of Mitigation and Mental Health and Criminal Justice was awarded the Presidential Commendation at the 23rd World Congress of the World Psychiatric Association for her impressive work on its statement against the death penalty for persons with mental disabilities.
  6. We won the “Award for Research” for its extensive research on the death penalty at the inaugural edition of awards at 8th World Congress Against the Death Penalty in Berlin (November 2022).
  7. Professor Anup Surendranath, our Executive Director, was invited to be on the Advisory Council of the Bonavero Institute of Human Rights at the University of Oxford. Professor Surendranath is the only member from South Asia on the Advisory Council. 

(L to R)

Neetika Vishwanath, Maitreyi Misra, and C. P. Shruthi, accepted the ‘Award for Research’ bestowed to us at the 8th World Congress Against the Death Penalty.

Shreya Rastogi, our Director of Litigation and of Forensics, was the 2024 Recipient of New York Legal Aid Society’s Magnus Mukoro Award for Integrity in Forensic Science.