India Justice
Report 2025
NEWS: The India Justice Report
2025 released by Tata Trust, underscores persistent gaps
and emerging progress in India’s justice delivery system.
WHAT’S IN THE REPORT?
About the India Justice Report (IJR)
Purpose and Uniqueness:
·
The India Justice Report is the country’s
only national-level ranking that evaluates how well Indian states and Union
Territories (UTs) are equipped to deliver justice effectively and equitably.
·
It focuses on quantifiable justice sector
capacities, making it a data-driven assessment tool for justice reforms.
Initiators and Partners:
·
The report is initiated by Tata Trusts,
with significant support from civil society organizations including:
- Commonwealth Human Rights Initiative (CHRI)
- DAKSH (a data analytics and policy research
organisation)
- Vidhi Centre for Legal Policy
- TISS-Prayas (a field action project of the Tata
Institute of Social Sciences)
Components and Indicators
·
The IJR evaluates state performance across four
core pillars:
- Police
- Judiciary
- Prisons
- Legal Aid
·
Additionally, it includes Human Rights
Commissions as a supplementary domain.
Indicators Used:
·
These pillars are assessed through five key
indicators:
- Human Resources: Vacancy levels,
training, diversity in workforce
- Budgets: Allocation and utilization of
financial resources
- Infrastructure: Availability and quality
of physical and digital facilities
- Workload: Burden on personnel in terms of
caseloads, investigations, etc.
- Diversity: Representation of women,
SC/ST/OBC in key roles
- Significance of the Report:
·
It helps benchmark performance of
different states.
·
Provides actionable insights to aid policy-making
and reform efforts.
·
Ensures accountability by relying on official
government data.
Key Highlights of the 2025 Report
Top Performing States:
·
Karnataka emerged as the overall top
performer with a score of 6.78/10.
·
It was the only state to meet gender quotas
in both police and judiciary.
·
Other top performers include:
- Andhra Pradesh – consistent performance
across pillars
- Telangana – a major improvement from 11th
to 3rd position
- Kerala – strong judiciary and prison
reforms
- Tamil Nadu – leading in prison
management, high budget utilization
Gender Representation:
·
A positive trend was observed with
increased representation of women in both police and judiciary.
·
Bihar stood out with the highest
proportion of women in its state police force.
Judicial Efficiency:
·
High Courts had a disposal rate above 100%,
indicating faster case closures than new filings.
·
Subordinate courts also showed marked
improvement.
·
Use of video conferencing, e-hearings,
and other digital platforms improved judicial access and efficiency.
Technology Integration:
·
Live-streaming of court proceedings,
establishment of e-Sewa Kendras, and digital legal aid tracking
systems are becoming more common across states, promoting accessibility and
transparency.
States Lagging in Justice Delivery
Worst Performing States:
·
West Bengal ranked last (18th), slipping
significantly due to deficits across all indicators.
·
Uttar Pradesh ranked 17th – low
performance in prisons, legal aid, and judiciary.
·
Uttarakhand, Jharkhand, and Rajasthan
occupied the next lowest ranks.
Gaps and Challenges Identified
Gender Quotas in Police:
- No state
met its self-declared women reservation quotas in the police
force.
- There
are fewer than 1,000 women in senior police positions across the
country.
Police Infrastructure Deficits:
- 17%
of police stations lack CCTV cameras, violating Supreme Court orders.
- 30%
of stations lack women’s help desks, impeding support for victims of
gender-based violence.
Expenditure on Justice
Delivery:
- Judiciary:
Average per capita spending is ₹182; no state spends more than 1%
of its total annual budget on judiciary.
- Police:
Highest per capita spending at ₹1,275.
- Legal
Aid: Severely underfunded with a mere ₹6 per person annually; 19
states have reduced their legal aid budgets.
Judicial Backlogs:
- Over 5
crore cases are pending in Indian courts.
- In Bihar,
71% of trial court cases are over 3 years old.
- High
Court vacancies exceed 30% in states like Gujarat.
Prison Overcrowding and
Undertrial Population:
- 76%
of India’s prison inmates are undertrials, up from 66% a decade
ago.
- Uttar
Pradesh has the most overcrowded prisons; in Delhi, 91%
of inmates are undertrials.
Civil Police Personnel
Shortage:
- There is
only one civil police officer per 831 citizens, far below the
UN-recommended ratio of 1:450.
Key Recommendations
- Gender-Inclusive Reforms:
- Mandatory
gender quotas with lateral entry options for women.
- Regular diversity
audits across justice institutions.
- Improving Police Infrastructure:
- Ensure 100%
CCTV coverage and functioning women help desks.
- Digitize
FIRs and station-level documentation.
- Judicial Reforms:
- Establish
the All India Judicial Services (AIJS) to fill judicial vacancies
uniformly.
- Implement
a standard recruitment calendar to address delays and pendency.
- Revamping Legal Aid System:
- Scale up
community-based legal aid programs.
- Expand paralegal
volunteer networks and increase per capita spending.
- Prison Reforms:
- Swift
adoption of the Model Prison & Correctional Services Act, 2023.
- Focus on
parole systems, medical staffing, and open prisons for
rehabilitation.
Performance-Linked Funding:
- Allocate
more funds to states that reduce vacancies, improve training,
and enhance tech adoption.
Conclusion
- The India Justice Report 2025 serves as a wake-up
call for policymakers.
- While technology adoption and disposal rates have
improved, deep-rooted structural issues continue to hinder
effective justice delivery.
- A holistic, inclusive, and data-driven approach
is necessary to ensure that access to justice is equitable, efficient,
and accountable across India.
Source: https://www.thehindu.com/news/national/india-justice-report-2025-not-a-single-stateut-meets-their-own-reserved-quotas-for-women-in-police-force/article69451621.ece