National Deficit and Good News
IJR-NATIONAL FINDINGS
A Timely Call For Action
The India Justice Report 2025 offers a comprehensive national assessment of how effectively states are equipping their justice delivery institutions. Drawing on two years of data from authoritative government sources, this fourth edition of the report evaluates performance across four pillars of the justice system--police, judiciary, prisons, and legal aid. Within these pillars, trends in human resources, diversity, workload, budgets, and infrastructure are analysed. While some incremental improvements are visible, the report underscores that deep structural and capacity gaps continue to constrain access to justice.
Personnel and Infrastructure Shortages
Across the country, the justice system is constrained by acute shortages. India has only 15 judges for every 10 lakh people, far below the Law Commission’s recommended 50. More than 1 in 3 posts remain vacant at the high courts, while district courts report about 1 in 5 posts vacant. These shortages translate into overwhelming caseloads; some high court judges handle as many as 15,000 cases each, while district judges manage an average of 2,200 cases.
The police system faces similar systemic strain. With just 120 police personnel per lakh against a benchmark of 222, officer-level vacancies stand at 28 per cent and constabulary vacancies at 21 per cent.
The prison system remains overcrowded and under-resourced. National occupancy rates exceed 131 per cent, and 1 in every 3 prisons in Uttar Pradesh record occupancy levels above 250 per cent.
Across the country, the justice system is constrained by acute shortages. India has only 15 judges for every 10 lakh people, far below the Law Commission’s recommended 50
The prison system remains overcrowded and under-resourced. National occupancy rates exceed 131 per cent, and 1 in every 3 prisons in Uttar Pradesh record occupancy levels above 250 per cent. Shortages within prison staff are severe, including 28 per cent vacancies among officers and cadre staff, 44 per cent among correctional staff, and 43 per cent among medical officers. There needs to be one doctor for every 300 prisoners, but presently there is only one for every 775. Forensic services are also hampered, with nearly half of administrative and scientific posts vacant. These deficits sharply limit the capacity of the justice system to provide timely and effective services.
Diversity
Representation of women and marginalised communities shows limited progress. Although the overall presence of women in policing has increased slightly to 12 per cent, their numbers remain extremely low in senior positions. Of the 2.42 lakh women in police nationwide, only 960 hold IPS-rank posts, and women constitute just 8 per cent of all officers. Nearly 90 per cent of women police personnel are concentrated in the constabulary. No state or union territory meets the 33 per cent representation benchmark for women in police.
Social diversity also remains uneven. While almost three out of every five police personnel come from SC, ST, or OBC communities, their presence thins dramatically at senior ranks, falling to about 1 out of 6 officers. In the district judiciary, only 5 per cent of judges belong to ST communities and 14 per cent to SCs, and of the 698 judges appointed to high courts since 2018, only 37 come from SC/ST backgrounds.
Improvements
Certain infrastructural indicators show gradual improvement. A larger proportion of prisons now have video-conferencing facilities (86%), courts have seen a marginal reduction in courtroom shortages (14.5%), and police stations equipped with CCTVs have increased (83%). Most police stations now have Women Help Desks (78%).
The legal aid system shows a complex picture of improvement and decline. Per capita spending on legal aid has increased from Rs. 4.57 in IJR 3 (2022) to Rs. 6.46 per person, but the number of community-based paralegal volunteers has fallen sharply
Yet several areas remain cause for concern. India’s undertrial population continues to grow, and more than two-thirds of prisoners are undertrials (76%). They are spending longer periods in custody, with the share of those incarcerated for three to five years doubling over the last decade, and those detained for more than five years have tripled. Rural police stations have declined significantly, while the number of urban stations has increased. The availability of legal aid in rural areas has also weakened as village legal aid clinics have decreased.
The legal aid system shows a complex picture of improvement and decline. Per capita spending on legal aid has increased from Rs. 4.57 in IJR 3 (2022) to Rs. 6.46 per person, but the number of communitybased paralegal volunteers has fallen sharply-–dropping by 38 per cent in five years. Only one-third of trained volunteers are actually deployed. Budgetary allocations across justice institutions vary considerably. While police spending has grown by 55 per cent over six years and now stands at nearly Rs. 1,300 per capita, spending on the judiciary and prisons remains far lower. Training budgets continue to be minimal, with police forces dedicating only 1.25 per cent of their expenditure to training.
Conclusion
Overall, the India Justice Report 2025 presents a clear call to action. Incremental improvements in infrastructure and certain performance metrics cannot compensate for deep and persistent gaps in staffing, diversity, and institutional capacity. States need to fill vacancies urgently, improve representation, increase investment in training, strengthen undertrial review mechanisms, and designate justice delivery as an essential public service. Without comprehensive, long-term reform, the constitutional guarantee of equal access to justice will remain beyond reach for large sections of the population.
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