SC Order on Shaheen Bagh Protest Introduced Dangerous Constitutional Ideas Is there something inevitable in the form in which we have conceived of liberal democracy that it will, more and more, construe the dissenter as a figure of criminality? An elderly anti-CAA protestor gestures, while she talks to Supreme Court-appointed interlocutors, during an interaction, at Shaheen Bagh in New Delhi, Thursday, Feb. 20, 2020. Photo: PTI Rights10/Dec/2020 The following is the full text of the Project 39A annual lecture, delivered by Pratap Bhanu Mehta on December 4, transcribed by The Wire . Good evening! Itâs a real honour and pleasure to be here. One, actually, because, of 39A. Project 39A is one of the most interesting, morally relevant, analytically rigorous projects in criminal justice that we have seen in India for a long time. I just want to congratulate Anup Surendranath and all his colleagues for really setting a new benchmark for how you can do meaningful research and advocacy within the academia. So, itâs a real privilege to be speaking under the auspices of Project 39A. I am also little bit intimidated because I am speaking to a group of very accomplished lawyers who know a great deal more about the subject Iâm going to speak about than I am.