Amid the raging debate over merit in India’s judiciary system, a comprehensive report has exposed some crucial issues plaguing the courts in the country. The India Justice Report 2025 released its finding on Tuesday. Initiated by Tata Trusts, the report delved into issues such as gender disparity, vacant posts, caste composition among other key data points. According to the IJR 2025, India has just 15 judges per million population. This translates to nearly 22,000 judges for the most populated country in the world.
The report says that the current trend is much below the recommendation made by the 1987 Law Commission, which had advocated for 50 judges per million population. High Courts in India are in difficult situation with 33 percent vacancy as opposed to 21 percent in district judiciary.
The report also spoke about the gender disparity in Indian Police force system. While there has been a growing momentum in hiring women in police force, the professional stature is cause of worry. As per the report, 90 percent of the women in India’s police force hold junior ranks across India with just 10 percent in senior positions.
Karnataka was ranked as the best performing state among the 18 large and mid-sized in terms of justice delivery, the IJR 2025 said. The state has been maintaining this ranking since 2022. Interestingly, all other states in top rankings are from south India. Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, Kerala and Tamil Nadu followed Karnataka, the report added.
On situation of prisons in Inia, the Justice Report said that infrastructural crisis persists across states. The jails are over-occupied, with a national average occupancy rate of over 131%. As per the 2022 data, 1 in every 3 prisons in UP recorded an occupancy rate of over staggering 250%. If this current rate continues, India’s population of prison inmates is likely to touch 6.8 Lakhs by 2030.
Discussing the IJR, Justice (Retd) Madan B Lokur commented, “The punishing process of accessing justice begins with the very first encounter an individual has with the system. With our failure to properly equip and train frontline justice providers—police stations, legal aid actors including paralegal volunteers and district courts—we fracture public trust. These institutions are intended to embody our commitment to equal justice.”
On this edition of IJR, Justice (Retd) Lokur said, “The fourth edition of the India Justice Report points out that improvements remain few and far between in the absence of adequate attention given to resources. Alas, the burden continues to remain on the individual seeking justice, and not the state to provide it.”
Discover the latest Business News, Sensex, and Nifty updates. Obtain Personal Finance insights, tax queries, and expert opinions on Moneycontrol or download the Moneycontrol App to stay updated!
Find the best of Al News in one place, specially curated for you every weekend.
Stay on top of the latest tech trends and biggest startup news.