Southern states have secured the top five slots in a ranking of India’s justice delivery landscape, according to the India Justice Report (IJR) 2025 released today. Karnataka retained the top rank among large and mid-sized states, followed by Andhra Pradesh and Telangana, both of which showed gains across key pillars. Kerala and Tamil Nadu rounded out the top five, underscoring the southern region’s lead on indicators of capacity, diversity, and reform. Among smaller states, Sikkim held on to its first-place position, followed by Himachal Pradesh and Arunachal Pradesh.
The report, now in its fourth edition, is India’s only data-based ranking that assesses the capacity of states to deliver justice across four critical pillars: police, judiciary, prisons, and legal aid. Launched by Tata Trusts in 2019, this edition has been developed in partnership with organisations like the Centre for Social Justice, Common Cause, Commonwealth Human Rights Initiative, DAKSH, TISS-Prayas, Vidhi Centre for Legal Policy, and How India Lives.
While certain metrics indicate progress — 78% of police stations now have women’s help desks and 83% are equipped with CCTV surveillance — several significant gaps still exist. This is particularly evident in policing. Despite comprising over 20 lakh personnel nationwide, the police force has fewer than 1,000 women in senior positions such as Superintendents and Director-Generals. Nearly 90% of women police personnel continue to serve in constabulary roles. No state or union territory currently meets its own quota for women in police recruitment, and caste representation also reveals a skewed pattern. Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes make up just 17% and 12% of officer ranks, respectively, highlighting a persistent imbalance in representation.
The judiciary reflects similar struggles. With just 15 judges per million people, India continues to fall below the Law Commission’s 1987 recommendation of 50. Judicial vacancies remain a pressing concern, with one in three High Court positions vacant, while in district courts, the average workload has risen to 2,200 cases per judge. Courts such as those in Allahabad and Madhya Pradesh have seen caseloads soar beyond a whopping 15,000 per judge. While women now account for 38% of judges at the district level, their numbers drop sharply higher up the chain. Just 14% of High Court judges are women, and only one woman currently serves as Chief Justice across the 25 High Courts. Meanwhile, they constitute only 6% of the judges on the Supreme Court.
In India’s overcrowded prisons, the picture is equally grim. The national average occupancy stands at 131%, with several facilities, particularly in Uttar Pradesh, operating at more than double their capacity. Undertrials continue to overwhelm the system, accounting for 76% of all inmates. Health infrastructure is woefully inadequate, with only 25 psychiatrists or psychologists deployed nationwide and a prisoner-doctor ratio of 775:1, far exceeding the recommended benchmark of 300:1.
Despite some positive strides, including the rollout of video conferencing in 86% of jails and a near doubling of per capita legal aid spend since 2019, the report concludes that justice in India remains heavily dependent on individual resilience.