Tue Apr 15 06:57:23 UTC 2025: ## India’s Justice System Faces Shortcomings: IJR 2025 Report

**New Delhi, April 15, 2025** – The India Justice Report (IJR) 2025, released today, paints a concerning picture of India’s justice system, highlighting critical shortages in policing, judicial capacity, and prison management. The report reveals significant disparities across states, with some showing progress while others lag significantly.

Key findings include a severe shortage of police personnel, with one officer responsible for an average of 831 people. The report also notes a stark underrepresentation of women in senior police positions, with fewer than 1,000 women holding such roles in a force of over 2 million. No state or union territory met its own quotas for women in the police.

Prison overcrowding is a major issue, particularly in Uttar Pradesh, where prisons are severely overcrowded. Conversely, Tamil Nadu leads in prison management, boasting the lowest staff vacancies and best officer-to-inmate ratio (22:1), though its overall policing ranking dropped from 3rd to 13th due to budgetary and training concerns. Karnataka is the only state meeting quotas in both police and judiciary. Bihar has the highest proportion of women in its state police force, yet also has the highest percentage of cases pending for over three years in its trial and district courts.

The report further highlights a lack of resources, including a national per capita spend on legal aid of a mere ₹6 per year and a significant number of police stations lacking basic amenities like CCTV cameras and women’s help desks. While national spending per prisoner has increased, significant disparities exist between states, with Andhra Pradesh recording the highest annual expenditure per prisoner. The national per capita expenditure on the judiciary is ₹182, with no state allocating more than 1% of its annual budget to the judiciary.

The report concludes by emphasizing the need for urgent reform and increased investment across all aspects of the justice system to ensure equitable access to justice for all citizens.

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