Background

Vinay Naidoo is a Barrister who qualified at The Inns Of Court School of Law, hailing from Gray’s Inn, London. He is a specialist in international human rights law & issues, and has worked on diverse human rights problems in a wide range of countries for decades. He has written and/or edited several books concerning human rights, is internationally published in legal journals, and is one of the few authorities on the death penalty in India.

His immersion proper in death penalty cases in India itself began with a referral to his offices by Amnesty International of the infamous case of Dhananjoy Chatterjee in 2004. With this case, there was the real possibility of not just sparing society yet another dreadful execution, but the genuine chance to put India on a path to abolish the death penalty for good.

Having seen his legal petition of last resort be accepted by the Supreme Court of India a mere 36 hours before the scheduled execution; having understood that the then Chief Justice of India, Lahorti C.J., had read his writ petition and found it compelling enough to award that it be heard before a full Constitutional Bench of the Supreme Court; having seen the woeful representation of his petition by an under-prepared advocate; having seen his client hung and the death penalty continue to function… Mr. Naidoo made it his mission to see the death penalty ended in India. To this end, his work has been a journey through networks and undergrounds, innocent masses and corrupt professionals, sincere collaborators and vested interests, politicians and high commissions, world media and Nobel Laureates.

Having written the first and most comprehensive book on the death penalty in India, lectured on the subject and worked on several death penalty cases in India, Mr. Naidoo believes that the time is now to end the death penalty in the world’s largest democracy.

Mr. Naidoo has also worked in feature and documentary film-making, as producer and director, and will shortly complete his first novel. He has been ‘Senior Legal Advisor’ of the ‘Human rights Law Network’ (HRLN), of India, Head office, Delhi, quitting that post when corrupt practices within HRLN were noticed as present and thriving. He possesses a B.Sc.(Hons), G.R.S.C., Cert. (Sorbonne), M.Sc., C.P.E., M.A., B.V.C. (Inns of Court School of Law), & a free spirit. E-mail: vinaynaidoo@hotmail.com; mr.vinaynaidoo@gmail.com

INTERVIEW

Can Society Escape the Noose (CSETN): Mr. Naidoo…

Vinay Naidoo (VN): Vinay, please.

CSETN: Vinay. If I might begin by asking you how you came to be involved as a campaigner against the death penalty in India and seen by some as ‘The Architect’ of the new drive to abolish it?

VN: “The Architect”…? Well, I think that is a rather flattering moniker, one which some may not appreciate! It is true that I have stimulated a belief in many people at many levels that the time is ripe for the death penalty to be abolished in India, and it is true that I have designed and implemented the strategy that many believe will lead to the abolition, hopefully in the very near future. But others, albeit very few, also have worthy work on-going on the death penalty in India, with their own reasons as to why it will not be accomplished anytime soon. The truth is, the death penalty has been thriving in India since Independence, and nothing has succeeded in stopping it. As worthy as the efforts of many people are in ‘pruning’ the death penalty’s aegis in India, the time and opportunity is here and now to actually end it for good.