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The Punished: Stories of Death-Row Prisoners in India
Based on work by Project 39A
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.
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.
- GenresIndiaNonfiction
176 pages, Hardcover
First published February 4, 2021
8 people are currently reading
174 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 25 of 25 reviews
November 3, 2022
I don't want to praise a book handling such topics trying to make the public see or feel more than hatred towards the prisoners merely because of good writing but without anything more to learn from but just getting glimpses of how they eat or ramble on a particular day. Yes, most of these short write-ups are just THIS. That's all.
This book started on a wrong note. The first story feels so inadequate and incomplete that it felt like I was going to hate the entire book.
Well, the second story did have some insight as to what the book meant to convey and I did read the rest.
Yes, we do have stories that prove the injustices done to people who are wrongly taken as prisoners or the family of the prisoners suffering just because they are related to them.
More like an introduction to each of these stories are these stories. Nothing much is there to be exact that the title promises.
This book started on a wrong note. The first story feels so inadequate and incomplete that it felt like I was going to hate the entire book.
Well, the second story did have some insight as to what the book meant to convey and I did read the rest.
Yes, we do have stories that prove the injustices done to people who are wrongly taken as prisoners or the family of the prisoners suffering just because they are related to them.
More like an introduction to each of these stories are these stories. Nothing much is there to be exact that the title promises.
February 5, 2021
The stories in this volume are written with the hope of making readers understand the people we want to kill.
The Punished is a collection of stories written on the basis of interviews with death row prisoners and their families conducted under Project 39A, a criminal justice research and litigation centre based out of NLU, Delhi.
It’s a topic close to my heart, Capital Punishment sounds retributive and something that enables justice (that’s the version we are fed as a society I guess) but research on the subject is fairly clear, it doesn’t do what it’s supposed to, rather it often becomes a policy tool and a way to punish the already impoverished, uneducated and marginalised masses. Lost is the common human in legal jargons, a shaky criminal justice system, interrogation methods that are questionable and an apathetic society out for blood.
That is not to say that the crimes aren’t heinous and chilling but it’s presence in modern democracies is clearly a blot on its own.
The book strives to make us think of the families left behind, of issues that plague the accused (poverty, illiteracy, mental illness, alcoholism etc.), it also talks of the botched investigations and circumstantial evidences that enable judgements where death penalty is awarded.
Supreme Court’s Bachan Singh Judgement gave us the Rarest of Rare cases doctrine which talks of mitigating circumstances when it comes to awarding capital punishment and the book tries to lay before you the other side of a crime.
Now the limitations; I think to put in so many vignettes in a small book made the experience detached, the writer didn’t want us to sympathise with the people which is an interesting sentiment but at the same time I would have liked detailed back stories to form an informed and humane choice. The vignettes of Fathers and neighbours felt incomplete and absent at times which I guess could be due to lack of access to prisoners at all times. The book would have been dealt better if we would have been introduced to the jurisprudence behind death penalty and it’s abolition, giving an average person more tools to decide and judge.
This topic needs and detailed analysis.
The Punished is a collection of stories written on the basis of interviews with death row prisoners and their families conducted under Project 39A, a criminal justice research and litigation centre based out of NLU, Delhi.
It’s a topic close to my heart, Capital Punishment sounds retributive and something that enables justice (that’s the version we are fed as a society I guess) but research on the subject is fairly clear, it doesn’t do what it’s supposed to, rather it often becomes a policy tool and a way to punish the already impoverished, uneducated and marginalised masses. Lost is the common human in legal jargons, a shaky criminal justice system, interrogation methods that are questionable and an apathetic society out for blood.
That is not to say that the crimes aren’t heinous and chilling but it’s presence in modern democracies is clearly a blot on its own.
The book strives to make us think of the families left behind, of issues that plague the accused (poverty, illiteracy, mental illness, alcoholism etc.), it also talks of the botched investigations and circumstantial evidences that enable judgements where death penalty is awarded.
Supreme Court’s Bachan Singh Judgement gave us the Rarest of Rare cases doctrine which talks of mitigating circumstances when it comes to awarding capital punishment and the book tries to lay before you the other side of a crime.
Now the limitations; I think to put in so many vignettes in a small book made the experience detached, the writer didn’t want us to sympathise with the people which is an interesting sentiment but at the same time I would have liked detailed back stories to form an informed and humane choice. The vignettes of Fathers and neighbours felt incomplete and absent at times which I guess could be due to lack of access to prisoners at all times. The book would have been dealt better if we would have been introduced to the jurisprudence behind death penalty and it’s abolition, giving an average person more tools to decide and judge.
This topic needs and detailed analysis.
May 2, 2021
'the Punished' has 18 'stories' of death row inmates in India, and each story tries to remind us that people who are serving death sentences in prisons across the country, no matter how bad their crimes are, are humans too. Death sentence in India is supposed to be conferred only in 'rarest of rare cases' - a vague threshold that, as research by a credible organisation like Project 39A (on whose work this book is also based) suggest, is arbitrarily applied in most cases, especially when the accused is from an economically disadvantaged background. Through the stories of the death-row convicts covered, the author tries to highlight a range of issues - flaws in our legal system, police brutality, mental illnesses, poverty - but doesn't quite succeed in establishing any of those very convincingly, in my opinion. The stories give you crumbs, but nothing substantial to "chew" on.
Each account is extremely short and doesn't properly delve into the mind, motivation and/or circumstances that led to the accused committing (or being framed for committing, as some allege) the heinous crimes they have been sentenced to death for, nor do they delve into why a police officer, lawyer or/and judge acted in a (supposedly) biased manner. I think the author could have written more about the latter because conferring a death sentence, the strictest punishment in the legal system, to someone can't entirely be based on prejudice, especially when judges are supposed to be highly educated and qualified. If the point was to show incompetence of the judiciary, the claim(s) could have been backed by more substantial research or reasoning.
It requires more than a surface-level treatment of an important and contentious topic like capital punishment, to make a reader fully understand how the law or the system is failing the common people, especially the poor. Also, I didn't quite like the stylistic choice of writing some of these accounts like short stories with made-up 'dialogues'; it subconsciously made me question the authenticity of the account(s).
However, I do think this book is important because if you aren't very familiar with the Indian legal system, it'll atleast make you question the practice of conferring the death penalty, and think about whether it is indeed an "appropriate" punishment for any crime, and if death row convicts are really beyond redemption - which is one the core objectives of the book.
Each account is extremely short and doesn't properly delve into the mind, motivation and/or circumstances that led to the accused committing (or being framed for committing, as some allege) the heinous crimes they have been sentenced to death for, nor do they delve into why a police officer, lawyer or/and judge acted in a (supposedly) biased manner. I think the author could have written more about the latter because conferring a death sentence, the strictest punishment in the legal system, to someone can't entirely be based on prejudice, especially when judges are supposed to be highly educated and qualified. If the point was to show incompetence of the judiciary, the claim(s) could have been backed by more substantial research or reasoning.
It requires more than a surface-level treatment of an important and contentious topic like capital punishment, to make a reader fully understand how the law or the system is failing the common people, especially the poor. Also, I didn't quite like the stylistic choice of writing some of these accounts like short stories with made-up 'dialogues'; it subconsciously made me question the authenticity of the account(s).
However, I do think this book is important because if you aren't very familiar with the Indian legal system, it'll atleast make you question the practice of conferring the death penalty, and think about whether it is indeed an "appropriate" punishment for any crime, and if death row convicts are really beyond redemption - which is one the core objectives of the book.
March 16, 2021
"But the truth is never pure- never black or white. It is complicated. And there can be no justice without it."
Crisp stories, accused specific narration ( which is often unheard or substantially publicized) and sticking to specifics instead of any sort of value judgement make this book a good read. Some stories in the book are little abrupt and some venture only into emotional zone missing out a clear event narrative.
However the purpose of the book is justified through the author's narration which rests on the premise that:
"If we as society take the onus of punishing with death, the least we can do is get to know the ones we punish a little bit better."
Crisp stories, accused specific narration ( which is often unheard or substantially publicized) and sticking to specifics instead of any sort of value judgement make this book a good read. Some stories in the book are little abrupt and some venture only into emotional zone missing out a clear event narrative.
However the purpose of the book is justified through the author's narration which rests on the premise that:
"If we as society take the onus of punishing with death, the least we can do is get to know the ones we punish a little bit better."
December 29, 2021
The Punished is a collection of nineteen stories revolving around the lives of death-row prisoners in India. These stories emanate from interviews that had been conducted by Project 39A, a criminal justice research and litigation centre, for their 2016 Death Penalty India Report.
The aim of telling these stories is to contextualise the reason behind why many of the crimes were committed by the people who are on death-row. As the author says, she doesn’t want to justify the actions, she merely wants to present these people as elements “embedded in the social system”.
In this context, the stories are jarring. A few, such as Redemption, were horrifying enough to make me keep down the book and just think for a moment or two. Some others, like The Monster, attempt to divorce the criminal from the crime - something that many, from our judiciary to our law enforcement agencies, fail to do while pronouncing someone guilty.
Many of the stories are attempts to portray to the readers the lacunae in our criminal justice system that not only enables crime, but also exploits socioeconomic inequalities to produce criminals out of thin air. It also makes you wonder whether death penalty, in the absence of absolute surety of guilt and in the presence of various mitigating factors, is a punishment that should even be rendered in the first place. For instance, most prisoners, if not all, have barely any access to decent legal representation and the trials are absolutely incomprehensible to them.
There’s this aspect that many stories are second-hand interviews, that is, the version of families or neighbours. This ends up leaving you with the feeling that some stories are simply incomplete and this feeling distances you from the individual, i.e. the prisoner. I think a contentious topic such as death penalty requires a bit more of a detailed analysis and a deeper look into the lives of the prisoners. Some stories come off as slightly insipid, but there are others that will definitely manage to jolt you. All in all, it’s a decent collection. Would recommend if you’re looking for a quick read.
The aim of telling these stories is to contextualise the reason behind why many of the crimes were committed by the people who are on death-row. As the author says, she doesn’t want to justify the actions, she merely wants to present these people as elements “embedded in the social system”.
In this context, the stories are jarring. A few, such as Redemption, were horrifying enough to make me keep down the book and just think for a moment or two. Some others, like The Monster, attempt to divorce the criminal from the crime - something that many, from our judiciary to our law enforcement agencies, fail to do while pronouncing someone guilty.
Many of the stories are attempts to portray to the readers the lacunae in our criminal justice system that not only enables crime, but also exploits socioeconomic inequalities to produce criminals out of thin air. It also makes you wonder whether death penalty, in the absence of absolute surety of guilt and in the presence of various mitigating factors, is a punishment that should even be rendered in the first place. For instance, most prisoners, if not all, have barely any access to decent legal representation and the trials are absolutely incomprehensible to them.
There’s this aspect that many stories are second-hand interviews, that is, the version of families or neighbours. This ends up leaving you with the feeling that some stories are simply incomplete and this feeling distances you from the individual, i.e. the prisoner. I think a contentious topic such as death penalty requires a bit more of a detailed analysis and a deeper look into the lives of the prisoners. Some stories come off as slightly insipid, but there are others that will definitely manage to jolt you. All in all, it’s a decent collection. Would recommend if you’re looking for a quick read.
January 30, 2021
Imagine you are in the prison for a crime you didn't commit, the police doesn't find anything against you but you're still not granted bail. What? You don't have to imagine it because it's actually happening to Munawar Faruqi? I see! Well, something similar or much worse has happened to so many and this book talks about them. We have stories of false convicts, wrongly accused criminals, the police picking up someone just on the basis of circumstancial evidence to close a case and not even investigating properly and the fact that someone can actually be innocent is overlooked time and again.
#japreviewslit
'The Punished' by Jahnavi Misra is a book that's one of its kind. This is a book that lets you in the minds of death row prisoners and their families. This is a book about people who you and I have wanted to kill but it's not just about them, it's quite a lot about us, about who we are as a society and how we are so quick to judge. These are real life stories of people who are given death penalty, yes but these are stories that are deep and very personal. The stories are written in a way that there are times they make you feel helpless and at other times your heart breaks. The ones that talk about the falsely accused and the ones where the accused is not even able to understand what happened in the court proceedings because of the language barrier.
You know these people are already dead when you're reading about them. Some of them committed the crimes they are 'punished' for but there are so many who are just dragged to the court because the police had the slightest doubt on them and was eager to close a case. You know there's no hope for these people yet once you start reading you just don't feel like stopping. More than anything these stories seem like an appeal to the humane side of all of us to know about people who are given death sentence and to be a little less judgemental and a lot more open minded.
I'd recommend it to everyone who wants to read more non fiction or have a better understanding of people who we want to kill.
#japreviewslit
'The Punished' by Jahnavi Misra is a book that's one of its kind. This is a book that lets you in the minds of death row prisoners and their families. This is a book about people who you and I have wanted to kill but it's not just about them, it's quite a lot about us, about who we are as a society and how we are so quick to judge. These are real life stories of people who are given death penalty, yes but these are stories that are deep and very personal. The stories are written in a way that there are times they make you feel helpless and at other times your heart breaks. The ones that talk about the falsely accused and the ones where the accused is not even able to understand what happened in the court proceedings because of the language barrier.
You know these people are already dead when you're reading about them. Some of them committed the crimes they are 'punished' for but there are so many who are just dragged to the court because the police had the slightest doubt on them and was eager to close a case. You know there's no hope for these people yet once you start reading you just don't feel like stopping. More than anything these stories seem like an appeal to the humane side of all of us to know about people who are given death sentence and to be a little less judgemental and a lot more open minded.
I'd recommend it to everyone who wants to read more non fiction or have a better understanding of people who we want to kill.
March 16, 2021
I have followed Project 39A for a really long time so when I heard about this book, I knew I had to buy it. I had high expectations and I must say, I was not disappointed.
March 1, 2021
The book promises way too much and disappoints by its under delivery of perspectives, stories and the inside life of a prisoner.
February 19, 2021
How is the death sentence seen by those given it? The book gives you a brief glimpse of their story, at least a piece of what remains of their minds. Maybe the writer, Jahnavi Mishra, decided giving too much of a glimpse will be even more horrifying than it is. Not because of what they did, but because of the process - legal and procedural - after. The stories are mostly told from the point of view of the Death Row prisoner herself. Sometimes, it makes no sense. Sometimes, maybe. Maybe. One has got to wonder if...
February 7, 2021
I picked up this book a couple of days ago, intrigued by the subject matter, not having read much about the death penalty or the penal system in India. I was surprised by the voice in which these stories are written - these stories have a a clear and unbiased point of view, and by the end of the book I felt a bit strange, as though I actually understood some people with whom I thought I would have nothing in common. I felt that the book achieved what the writer intended to - as she writes in her authors note, the primary objective here is not to elicit a simple sympathetic response but to help us view these prisoners as human beings, rather than aberrations that need to be weeded out. And I felt that the writer did achieve that; how, I can't really say.
The stories are written in deceptively simple prose, which I think is wholly appropriate to the subject matter - it helps to keep these sometimes horrific stories on an even keel, without tipping into simple sentimentality or gross sensationalism. The crimes of most of these prisoners are not glossed over; instead, the writer opts to simply lay out their crimes, and let the readers gain an insight into the criminals' inner lives before and after their crime. In the same way, I felt the writer did a commendable job in portraying the helplessness and despair felt by the prisoners' families with both the judicial process and with the fate of one of their own. Again, here the language is not flowery or overly sympathetic, the writing flows naturally and I didn't feel as though I was coerced into agreeing with any 'agenda'. I thought this was remarkable and I think this is probably the best way of writing about a topic which is probably quite politically divisive. In some ways, I was reminded of the writing of Maureen McHugh, a writer whose books I absolutely adore.
Books that deal with issues such as these are hard for me to read or review, but in this case, after having read the book cover to cover, I probably will pick up more books on the topic to educate myself. I also really liked the writing and I look forward to reading more by the author.
The stories are written in deceptively simple prose, which I think is wholly appropriate to the subject matter - it helps to keep these sometimes horrific stories on an even keel, without tipping into simple sentimentality or gross sensationalism. The crimes of most of these prisoners are not glossed over; instead, the writer opts to simply lay out their crimes, and let the readers gain an insight into the criminals' inner lives before and after their crime. In the same way, I felt the writer did a commendable job in portraying the helplessness and despair felt by the prisoners' families with both the judicial process and with the fate of one of their own. Again, here the language is not flowery or overly sympathetic, the writing flows naturally and I didn't feel as though I was coerced into agreeing with any 'agenda'. I thought this was remarkable and I think this is probably the best way of writing about a topic which is probably quite politically divisive. In some ways, I was reminded of the writing of Maureen McHugh, a writer whose books I absolutely adore.
Books that deal with issues such as these are hard for me to read or review, but in this case, after having read the book cover to cover, I probably will pick up more books on the topic to educate myself. I also really liked the writing and I look forward to reading more by the author.
August 13, 2022
The Punished is a collection of nineteen stories revolving around the lives of death-row prisoners in India. These stories are crisp summaries of from interviews that had been conducted by Project 39A, NLU for their 2016 Death Penalty India Report.
As the author explains in the beginning and the end, the aim of writing these pieces was to contextualize the crimes committed by the death row convicts. The motives range from love (desire maybe??), anger, black magic, property dispute and a whole plethora of other inexplicable instances in some cases,
The stories take your breath away at times by the sheer brutality of it and make you think why anger driven by desire is even fatal than a nuclear bomb. “Rukhsar’s Love” is a case in point. There are Some others, like “The Monster”, attempts to separate the the human from the committed crime – something which is not technically possible always in the legal parlance. This story in particular made my mind wander to the movie “The Green Mile” starring Tom Hanks.
The stories also attempt to bring the readers attention to the socioeconomic inequalities and lack of proper legal remedies which sometimes make the innocent declared guilty. We often hear stories of how tribals are arrested and then acquitted after a good part of their lives are over, often due to lack of evidence.
Whether death sentence is a remedy or not is a contentious topic and to answer it in binary would be difficult for many. Nevertheless, the book through its writing forces the reader to look into the circumstances which makes the monster out of humans and probably this awakening would help us reduce the crimes in the days to follow. I would end the review with a thought-provoking note from one of the stories titled “The Punished” where a convicted ex-army man is waiting for last twenty five years as a death row convict and has now descended to madness.
“Anger comes after desire. Delusion comes after anger. Confusion after delusion. Confusion kills reason, and then the man dies”.
It is quick but a thought provoking read.
As the author explains in the beginning and the end, the aim of writing these pieces was to contextualize the crimes committed by the death row convicts. The motives range from love (desire maybe??), anger, black magic, property dispute and a whole plethora of other inexplicable instances in some cases,
The stories take your breath away at times by the sheer brutality of it and make you think why anger driven by desire is even fatal than a nuclear bomb. “Rukhsar’s Love” is a case in point. There are Some others, like “The Monster”, attempts to separate the the human from the committed crime – something which is not technically possible always in the legal parlance. This story in particular made my mind wander to the movie “The Green Mile” starring Tom Hanks.
The stories also attempt to bring the readers attention to the socioeconomic inequalities and lack of proper legal remedies which sometimes make the innocent declared guilty. We often hear stories of how tribals are arrested and then acquitted after a good part of their lives are over, often due to lack of evidence.
Whether death sentence is a remedy or not is a contentious topic and to answer it in binary would be difficult for many. Nevertheless, the book through its writing forces the reader to look into the circumstances which makes the monster out of humans and probably this awakening would help us reduce the crimes in the days to follow. I would end the review with a thought-provoking note from one of the stories titled “The Punished” where a convicted ex-army man is waiting for last twenty five years as a death row convict and has now descended to madness.
“Anger comes after desire. Delusion comes after anger. Confusion after delusion. Confusion kills reason, and then the man dies”.
It is quick but a thought provoking read.
May 2, 2021
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.
19 of these realities are compiled as stories and presented to show the dark side of our legal system. While the judiciary upholds, there are still some loops and bugs of our system that are pointed out in this book – police officers who underperform, the legal guidance that barely speaks to the client they are to defend and the entire system that maintains little to no regard over mental health.
It is to note that these stories are neither justifying crimes, nor their means. All it does is point out to certain possibilities of circumstantial evidence and the inhumane nature of the system that is put in place.
The stories show the reality of people who were not given a fighting chance due to lack of their own resources or their mental health and condition.
It is a dark and chilling read and touches over topics of rape and assault as well. Warning issued.
19 of these realities are compiled as stories and presented to show the dark side of our legal system. While the judiciary upholds, there are still some loops and bugs of our system that are pointed out in this book – police officers who underperform, the legal guidance that barely speaks to the client they are to defend and the entire system that maintains little to no regard over mental health.
It is to note that these stories are neither justifying crimes, nor their means. All it does is point out to certain possibilities of circumstantial evidence and the inhumane nature of the system that is put in place.
The stories show the reality of people who were not given a fighting chance due to lack of their own resources or their mental health and condition.
It is a dark and chilling read and touches over topics of rape and assault as well. Warning issued.
March 7, 2021
“... if we as a society take on the onus of punishing with death, the least we can do is get to know the ones we punish a little bit better.”
April 3, 2021
“The power of a story is inherent in the opportunity it provides the reader to open up to experiences that may otherwise seem remote.”
February 12, 2021
the Punished (Stories of Death -Row Prisoners in India)
Published by @harpercollinsin
the Punished is a collection of short stories of the prisoners on death row around India.
Well as a reader it's difficult for me to completely understand the facts about all the cases of the people on the death row in India , especially the one's mentioned in this book.
It says that the book is written with the hope of making readers understand the people we want to kill.
It's more about the life of the prisoners family, like holding a mirror to the society.
⭐My personal view⭐
I understand that there might be judicial judgements in some cases where the actual facts are neglected or not presented in the respected courts and that cannot be an exception, but on the other hand those who proved to have committed
gruesome crimes don't deserve a sense of humanity from the society but their families do ...
Published by @harpercollinsin
the Punished is a collection of short stories of the prisoners on death row around India.
Well as a reader it's difficult for me to completely understand the facts about all the cases of the people on the death row in India , especially the one's mentioned in this book.
It says that the book is written with the hope of making readers understand the people we want to kill.
It's more about the life of the prisoners family, like holding a mirror to the society.
⭐My personal view⭐
I understand that there might be judicial judgements in some cases where the actual facts are neglected or not presented in the respected courts and that cannot be an exception, but on the other hand those who proved to have committed
gruesome crimes don't deserve a sense of humanity from the society but their families do ...
April 9, 2021
The book has 19 stories. The criminals include rapists, murderers, bandits from gangs, mentally disturbed people who killed their families. They include men and women.
A common theme I found across the book was that all these criminal were
1. From financially underprivileged backgrounds
2. All of them denied having any knowledge of their trials, as the trials were conducted in English and they did not understand the language. A woman who understood it was ill-informed by her husband and lawyer that she was given the life sentence. She learned on TV that she was given the death penalty.
3. All of them (except one of the criminals) denied having committed the crime and believed they had been framed.
4. Anger, uncontrolled and limitless anger, is the culprit behind most (85%) of the crimes.
A common theme I found across the book was that all these criminal were
1. From financially underprivileged backgrounds
2. All of them denied having any knowledge of their trials, as the trials were conducted in English and they did not understand the language. A woman who understood it was ill-informed by her husband and lawyer that she was given the life sentence. She learned on TV that she was given the death penalty.
3. All of them (except one of the criminals) denied having committed the crime and believed they had been framed.
4. Anger, uncontrolled and limitless anger, is the culprit behind most (85%) of the crimes.
November 15, 2021
'The Punished' is an attempt to bring forth an alternative perspective of death-row prisoners in India. When it comes to this topic, public perception is colored by the laser-sharp focus on crime and on punitive measures. But this focus misses the opportunity to stare at the mirror that society shows us.
To me, the stories felt like they stopped too soon, perhaps because of limitations of the interview design. As the author states, these aren't accurate stories. But the humanizing angle is of more importance and the book does a decent job there. I'd urge anyone interested in this to also take a look at Project 39A's reports.
To me, the stories felt like they stopped too soon, perhaps because of limitations of the interview design. As the author states, these aren't accurate stories. But the humanizing angle is of more importance and the book does a decent job there. I'd urge anyone interested in this to also take a look at Project 39A's reports.
July 9, 2022
The book was written like a fictional account of convicts on death row. This narrative writing entails a pro and a con. I believe that the convict's narrative humanizes them and helps the reader focus upon something more than the binaries of an offender and a good civilian. However, at the same time, I feel the book is bereft of sociological or criminological parameters that could have been studied while narrating these accounts. It is a good short general read though.
September 25, 2023
Not "stories" per se, rather just snapshots of lives of prisoners. Seems like the author thought of a title that'll sell well and stumbled upon a research already conducted on a similar topic.
Good page turner with short anecdotes, but you'll get out of it with little to nothing to remember or cherish afterwards.
If you're absolutely free, stuck in a reader's block, on a Sunday eve, with nothing better to do, waiting for death (okay, an exaggeration) you can pick this book... Surely :)
Good page turner with short anecdotes, but you'll get out of it with little to nothing to remember or cherish afterwards.
If you're absolutely free, stuck in a reader's block, on a Sunday eve, with nothing better to do, waiting for death (okay, an exaggeration) you can pick this book... Surely :)
February 10, 2021
A haunting book. The stories rush to you, when you least expect them to.
May 21, 2022
A short, good readable book.
March 31, 2023
I really wish this book was in Hindi. Yes there would have been limitations to it, but the real emotion would have flown better.
June 2, 2024
Short and authentic
August 19, 2024
The stories were rather common. Among the stories, only one story caught my attention. However, the author has a really good message to convey and that shouldn't be gone unheard.
Displaying 1 - 25 of 25 reviews