India Justice Report, 2025

Prelims – Current events of National Importance.

Mains (GS II) – Judiciary | Dispute Redressal Mechanisms | E-Governance.

Why in News?

India Justice Report (IJR) 2025 released recently said that not a single State or Union Territory has met their own reserved quotas for women in the police.

• It is India’s only ranking of States/UTs on the delivery of justice released annually.
• Initiated by - Tata Trusts and supported by several civil society organizations and data partners.
• Indicators - Police, Judiciary, Prisons and Legal Aid.
• Filters - Human resources, infrastructure, workload and diversity.

Key Findings

Positive Findings

• Southern states of India are performing the best when it comes to policing, justice delivery and prison management.
• Top states - All the top spots in the large and mid-sized category were taken by southern states - Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, Kerala and Tamil Nadu.

Karnataka is the only State that met quotas in both Police and Judiciary and Bihar has the highest share of women in State police.

• Bottom states - Bengal came at the bottom of the table, followed by Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Jharkhand and Rajasthan.
• Among the 7 small states, Sikkim was the best-performer, while Goa was the laggard.
• Improving states - Telangana, which ranked 11^th in the last survey, jumped to the 3^rd spot in the latest report.
• Bihar showed the most improvement in the category of police from 2022 to 2025.

• Case disposal rate - High Courts have consistently achieved a disposal rate exceeding 100%, while subordinate courts have also shown progress.
  • For instance, more than 86% of prisons are now equipped with video-conferencing facilities for conducting trials.
• Prison Management - Tamil Nadu retained its top position in managing prisons, with increased budget allocation and 100% utilization.

Negative Findings

• Reserved quota gap - Not a single State/UT meets their own reserved quotas for women in police force
• Infrastructure gap - 17% of police stations in the country do not have a single CCTV, while 3 in 10 police stations do not have women help desks.
• Police-population ratio - Nationally, the ratio remained stagnant at 155 police personnel per 100,000 population, significantly below the sanctioned strength of 197.5.
  • In India, one civil police personnel is available for 831 people.
• Under-trial issue - 91% of Delhi’s prison population consisted of under-trials.
• Prison overcrowding - 176 prisons operate at over 200% capacity.
• Inadequate spending
  • On legal aid – Rs. 6 per annum.
  • On prisons - Rs. 57.
  • On the judiciary - Rs. 182.

Reference

The Hindu | India Justice Report 2025