India Justice Report 2025

FOCUS

The India Justice Report (IJR) is a national, independent assessment that ranks 25 Indian states on the structural and financial capacity of five pillars of the justice system (police, prisons, judiciary, legal aid, and the State Human Rights Commissions) to deliver justice for all. This fourth edition was released in April 2025. It was a collaborative effort between DAKSH, the Commonwealth Human Rights Initiative, Common Cause, the Centre for Social Justice, Vidhi Centre for Legal Policy and TISS-Prayas.

Analysing government-published data, the report ranks states’ performance across key indicators such as budget allocation, human resources, infrastructure, workload, diversity, and long-term trends.

It states that at the global level, India has shown modest improvement in indicators related order and security and civil justice as well as progress under the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). However, India’s overall ranking remains low, moving lower from 77 to 79 out of 142 countries, indicating persistent structural challenges.

Nationally, the report notes incremental growth in certain areas such as gender diversity with 78 per cent of all police stations now having women helpdesks and 38 per cent of district judiciary being women. Despite these gains, a significant gap persists between policy intent and implementation. Budgetary constraints, inadequate infrastructure (including electricity, bandwidth, and physical facilities), and shortages in trained personnel continue to undermine effective service delivery.

The report notes the need to ensure 24×7 legal guidance and representation with a strengthened community presence of paralegal volunteers. It recommends equipping every police station with CCTV cameras, increasing resources and staffing for first responders as well as better training across all levels of the justice system.

The 212-page report is divided into 8 broad sections: National Findings (Section 1); Projections (Section 2); Police (Section 3); Prisons (Section 4); Judiciary (Section 5); Legal Aid (Section 6); State Human Rights Commissions (SHRCs) (Section 7); and Other Sections (Section 8).

    FACTOIDS

  1. The top performing state in 2025 (as per composite ranking across police, prisons, judiciary and legal aid) was Karnataka with a score of 6.78 out of 10. It was followed by Andhra Pradesh (6.32), Telangana (6.15), Kerala (6.09) and Tamil Nadu (5.62).

  2. Maharashtra saw a notable decline in its ranking compared with previous editions – from ranking first in 2019 to tenth in 2025. Gujarat and Punjab also showed inconsistent performance across sectors. The report also adds that Bihar, Rajasthan, Jharkhand, Uttar Pradesh, and West Bengal showed no change in ranking, indicating stagnation.

  3. Persistent vacancies, shortages of skilled personnel, low case clearance rates, and rising arrears continued to undermine the performance of the formal court system, the report notes.

  4. By the end of 2024, the number of pending cases (both civil and criminal) in the country had reached 5 crores. Pending cases had seen a 20 per cent increase between 2020 and 2024, with one in every two cases pending for more than three years at both the high court and district court levels.

  5. Only Sikkim, Tripura, and Meghalaya High Courts operated at full judicial strength. Across all High Courts, 51 per cent of cases have been pending for over five years.

  6. The report also notes that India has one High Court judge per 18.7 lakh people, underscoring severe judicial shortages. Only eight High Courts had one judge serving less than 10 lakh people. In the rest the numbers ranged from 12 lakh (Madras High Court) to 38 lakh (Patna High Court).

  7. A state’s legal aid budget is sourced from the National Legal Services Authority (NALSA) at the Centre and the state itself. Between 2017-18 and 2022-23, the share of state contributions increased across the country. As many as 19 states contributed more than 80 per cent of their total legal aid budgets.

  8. Paralegal volunteers remain crucial to reaching marginalised communities. Despite improved caste representation, their numbers declined sharply, from 69,290 in 2019 to 43,050 in 2024 — a 38 per cent reduction. Tamil Nadu, Rajasthan and Punjab saw the largest drops.

  9. The police–population ratio remained at 155 per 100,000, far below the sanctioned 197, the report notes. Number of urban police stations rose by four per cent whereas rural stations fell by seven per cent. However, while urban stations usually cover 20 square kilometres, rural stations often cover more than 300 square kilometres.

  10. Underfunding, outdated infrastructure, and shortages of skilled personnel continued to delay investigations and trials. In several states including Gujarat, Maharashtra, Rajasthan, and Karnataka, forensic laboratories remained under police control, raising concerns about the independence and credibility of forensic evidence.

  11. Prisons nationwide operated at 131 per cent capacity, with 12 prisons housing nearly four times the sanctioned number of inmates. Citing the Amitava Roy Committee report, the IJR 2025 adds that only 68 per cent of inmates have adequate sleeping space.

  12. Most states showed improved caste representation in the judiciary for Scheduled Castes, Scheduled Tribes, and Other Backward Classes, yet failed to meet mandated targets. People with disabilities remained significantly underrepresented across justice institutions.

  13. Nationally, at the end of 2024, the high courts recorded a case clearance rate of 94 per cent, unchanged from 2022. Ten of the 25 high courts exceeded 100 per cent clearance, with seven of them – Jharkhand, Tripura, Punjab and Haryana, Madras, Telangana, Odisha, and West Bengal – doing so for the third consecutive year. Between 2017 and 2024, however, the high courts of Bombay, Delhi, Gujarat, Himachal Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, and Rajasthan never reached full clearance. Andhra Pradesh crossed the 100 per cent mark for the first time in 2024. In contrast, Allahabad and Uttarakhand, which had clearance rates of 102 per cent and 110 per cent in 2017, fell to the lowest levels in 2024 at 78 per cent and 75 per cent, respectively.


    Focus and Factoids by Bharti Patel.

AUTHOR

DAKSH, Commonwealth Human Rights Initiative, Common Cause, Centre for Social Justice, Vidhi Centre for Legal Policy and TISS-Prayas

COPYRIGHT

Sir Dorabji Tata Trust

PUBLICATION DATE

Apr, 2025

TAGS

#prisons #legal-aid #judiciary #police

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