INDIA JUSTICE REPORT 2025
1. Context
Last month, the fourth edition of the India Justice Report (IJR) 2025 was published, which tracks each state’s structural and financial capability to deliver justice. It was first published in 2019 with the support of Tata Trusts. The 2025 edition was undertaken in partnership with DAKSH, Commonwealth Human Rights Initiative, Common Cause, Centre for Social Justice, Vidhi Centre for Legal Policy, and TISS-Prayas
2. India Justice Report
- The India Justice Report is a comprehensive study that evaluates the capacity and performance of key pillars of the country’s justice system — namely the police, judiciary, prisons, and legal aid.
- First released in 2019 and published by Tata Trusts in collaboration with several civil society partners such as the Centre for Social Justice, Common Cause, and CHRI, the report aims to provide data-driven insights into how effectively states are delivering justice to their citizens.
- The report ranks Indian states based on publicly available government data, using a range of indicators that assess not only the presence of infrastructure and personnel but also factors such as diversity, workload, budget allocation, training, and the accessibility of justice services.
- For example, it looks at vacancies in police forces and courts, the representation of women and marginalised communities, and the availability of legal aid services. It also highlights budgetary allocations and their actual utilisation within each sector.
- One of the major contributions of the India Justice Report is its state-wise ranking, which encourages competition and accountability among states. Larger states and smaller states are ranked separately to ensure a fair comparison. The aim is not only to show where states stand but also to promote improvements through evidence-based policymaking.
- The findings of the report often reveal persistent gaps in the justice system. For instance, many states struggle with high vacancy rates in police and judicial positions, which leads to delayed investigations and prolonged case pendency in courts.
- It also underscores the underutilisation of funds in the justice sector and highlights how access to justice remains uneven, especially for vulnerable populations.
- By providing a detailed and data-backed snapshot of the justice system, the India Justice Report plays a crucial role in pushing for reforms, enhancing transparency, and encouraging collaborative efforts among government bodies, civil society, and the general public to build a more equitable and efficient justice delivery mechanism in India
3. India Justice report 2025
The India Justice Report underscores several ongoing challenges within India’s justice system across key domains:
- Policing remains urban-centric, with a notable reduction in the number of rural police stations between 2017 and 2023. The police-to-population ratio continues to lag at 155 officers per 100,000 people, well below the sanctioned level of 197. This shortfall often results in delayed investigations and weakened public safety. Bihar serves as a striking example, with only 81 police officers per lakh population.
- In terms of the judiciary, the report reveals a sharp 20% increase in pending cases, which have now crossed the five-crore mark. Court infrastructure struggles to keep up, with shortages in courtroom availability and significant vacancies in both high courts (33%) and district courts (21%).
- District court judges are handling an average caseload of 2,200 cases each, and while the case clearance rate stands at 94%, the overall pace of justice delivery remains slow, eroding public trust in the system.
- Prisons continue to suffer from severe overcrowding, with some facilities operating at more than 400% of their capacity. On average, prisons are at 131% occupancy. A staggering 76% of inmates are undertrials — individuals not yet convicted — and among them, one in four has been incarcerated for one to three years awaiting trial.
- The average daily expenditure per prisoner is just ₹121, reflecting insufficient investment in prison infrastructure, inmate welfare, and reform initiatives, all of which fall short of the standards envisioned under the 2023 Model Prisons & Correctional Services Act. The report also references the findings of the Amitava Roy Committee on prison reforms.
- Regarding legal aid, the report points to issues such as underutilisation of available funds, inefficient staffing patterns, and a decline in community-level legal support services, including village legal services clinics — with only one clinic available for every 163 villages. The legal aid system currently comprises over 41,000 lawyers and 43,000 paralegal volunteers.
- In the area of forensics, the justice system grapples with deep structural limitations, including chronic underinvestment, obsolete equipment, and a shortage of trained personnel. Furthermore, state human rights commissions are often hampered by unfilled senior posts and weak mechanisms for addressing complaints effectively.
- Despite these concerns, the report also highlights several positive developments. The proportion of women judges in the district judiciary has risen to 38%. Additionally, 83% of police stations across India are now equipped with at least one CCTV camera.
- There has also been an encouraging trend of increased government spending to strengthen the foundational capacity of the justice system
| In the overall ranking of large and mid-sized states under the 2025 edition of the report, Karnataka retained the top position, followed by Andhra Pradesh, which improved significantly from fifth place in 2022 to second. Telangana held steady at third place, while Kerala moved up to fourth. In contrast, Uttar Pradesh and West Bengal remained at the bottom of the rankings, at 17th and 18th positions respectively, showing little change from the previous report. |
4. Rule of Law Index 2024
- The India Justice Report 2025 features India’s performance across various global justice and governance indices, including the Rule of Law Index 2024, published by the World Justice Project (WJP). In this index, India was placed 79th out of 142 nations.
- The index evaluates countries using eight core dimensions: checks on government authority, levels of corruption, transparency in governance, protection of fundamental rights, public safety and order, enforcement of regulations, as well as the efficiency of both civil and criminal justice systems.
- With regard to criminal justice, India stood at 89th position. The WJP highlights that a robust criminal justice system is central to upholding the rule of law, as it serves as the standard method for addressing legal grievances and prosecuting offenses against society.
- In the civil justice category, India ranked 111th. This component of the index assesses whether civil justice systems are not only accessible and cost-effective, but also impartial, free from corruption or undue political interference. It further examines the fairness, availability, and functionality of mechanisms such as alternative dispute resolution
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For Prelims: Human Rights, judiciary
For Mains: GS II - Indian Judiciary
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Source: Indianexpress
