Anup Surendranath is professor of law at National Law University in Delhi. 

He is also Executive Director of Project 39a, an initiative whose sustained representation of prisoners sentenced to death in the Supreme Court of India has led to significant changes and improvements in the law.

What motivates someone to take up the cause of death row prisoners? His story gives us some insight into his motivation and his journey, propelled by his hard-working mother and by the generosity of others, from hardship in the suburbs of Bangalore to the spires of Oxford.

Professor Anup Surendranath talks about his decision to return to India to a life driven by the desire to close the ‘justice gap’ that he describes vividly in this episode of The Innovator’s Journey. Technology may have a role to play in the future, he explains, but today the story is rooted in the people, professions and institutions that have caught the vision for working together. In doing so, they are showing a way to increase access to justice for the people of India and for all of us.

(00:00) Introduction to Anup Surendranath

(02:13) THE PAST - My Life and Career Journey

(21:41) Creative artefact

(24:52) THE PRESENT - My Work and Innovation

(30:42) THE FUTURE - Future of Work

(31:59) What's the role of technology?

(33:35) Concluding advice

The podcast (mentioned) with Californian law professor Bryan Stevenson is here: https://podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/bryan-stevenson-the-power-of-mercy-and-forgiveness/id1264843400?i=1000413114819 (34:48: “I believe we’re more than the worst thing we’ve ever done. I believe that grace is power. I believe that love is justice. And I believe we have to judge how we’re doing by how we treat the poor, the incarcerated and the condemned.”)