Crime Today News
By Dilip Bobb
In William Shakespeare’s The Merchant of Venice, Shylock’s pursuit of a pound of Antonio’s flesh highlights a complex relationship between law, justice, and mercy. Shylock, driven by revenge and a perceived injustice, demands strict adherence to the terms of his bond, while the court, ultimately, prioritizes mercy and social order over the literal interpretation of the law. This interplay of legal principles and ethical consideration confronts many judges in courts across India with varying responses.
That seems to have been borne out by the latest India Justice Report (IJR). In a unique initiative, the Report ranks individual Indian states in relation to their capacity to deliver access to justice. In 2017, the Trusts brought together a group of sectoral experts—Centre for Social Justice, Common Cause, Commonwealth Human Rights Initiative, DAKSH, Tata Institute of Social Sciences, Prayas and Vidhi Centre for Legal Policy and individual donors like Rohini Nilekani—to develop a report that would measure the structural capacity of state-based instrumentalities of the justice system against their own declared mandates. This, say the authors, was done with a view to pinpoint areas that lend themselves to immediate solutions.
The annual Report analyses the performance of states in delivering justice through four key components: police, judiciary, prisons, and legal aid. Through the filters of human resources, infrastructure, budgets, workload, human rights commissions and diversity, it assesses the capacity of four core pillars of the justice system to deliver justice to all sections of society. Importantly, by comparing data over a five-year period, the IJR assesses efforts governments make year-on-year to improve the administration of justice.
Here’s the bottom line. If you are looking for a reasoned and fair judgment in a case, you have a better chance of achieving that down south than in the northern states, or even in eastern India, with West Bengal ranking last. Southern states have secured the top five slots in a ranking of India’s justice delivery landscape. Karnataka retained the top rank among large and mid-sized states, followed by Andhra Pradesh and Telangana, both of which showed gains across key judicial pillars. Kerala and Tamil Nadu rounded out the top five, highlighting 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.
Karnataka also leads in legal aid, with the highest number of paralegal volunteers, nationwide. It also maintains low police officer vacancies, ensuring effective law enforcement. Andhra Pradesh sets an example in terms of its prisons, with low occupancy rates and minimal medical staff shortages. Telangana scores high in terms of its police strength and is ranked first in the area of police performance. This was made possible by streamlined recruitment and supervision, though legal aid remains its Achilles’ heel.
Kerala is ranked the best in the judicial matrix, with only four percent judge vacancies in High Courts and a high proportion of women judges. Tamil Nadu, meanwhile, has a commanding lead in prisons, maintaining one of the lowest inmate populations relative to capacity.
In contrast, West Bengal ranks last among large states, struggling with high vacancies and limited investment. Uttar Pradesh is still low down the judicial ladder, but it has moved up a notch since the last Report, thanks to better legalaid access. As the Report shows, states like Bihar and West Bengal have deep-rooted systemic problems. The lowest ranking states (based on the judicial parameters used) apart from West Bengal, are UP, Uttarakhand, Jharkhand, Rajasthan and Bihar.
The IJR 2025 project looked at four main factors, from vacancies across police, judiciary, prisons, and legal aid, all of which remain a significant hurdle. It projects dire consequences if these gaps persist.
The Indian judiciary faces mounting pressure from vacancies and rising caseloads, undermining timely justice delivery, says the Report. Some of the factors contributing to this are:
- One in three High Court judge positions remains vacant, with Uttar Pradesh reporting a 50 percent shortage. Kerala, with only four percent vacancies, sets an enviable benchmark. The appointment process initiated by High Court chief justices and reviewed by the Supreme Court Collegium equally lacks fixed timelines, adding to the delays. The then Chief Justice DY Chandrachud’s Collegium proposed 168 judges, with 142 approved by the Union government.
- High court staff vacancies also persist, with Gujarat at 47 percent and Kerala again leading with four percent. These gaps strain administrative efficiency, delaying case processing.
- Subordinate courts fare slightly better, with one in five judge positions vacant. Gujarat reports the highest shortage at 31 percent, while Uttarakhand excels at nine percent. Despite a six percent increase in sanctioned judicial posts from 2020 to 2025, vacancies remain stubborn. India currently has 21 judges per million people, up from 14.7 in 2002, but this falls short of global standards.
- Pending case, as is now widely known, is a major concern, with 45 million clogging district courts (73 percent over a year old) and 6.2 million in High Courts (80 percent over a year old). Common delays stem from unavailable counsel, with 6.6 million district court cases stalled for this reason. The 2009 Law Commission suggested reducing judicial vacations by 10-15 days and extending court hours by 30 minutes to ease backlogs.
- Police departments face critical staffing shortages, impacting law enforcement effectiveness. As of January 2023, seven large states reported over 25 percent vacancies in police constabularies, with West Bengal at 41 percent. Officer-level shortages are equally severe, with Rajasthan (52 percent) and Bihar (45 percent) leading. These gaps prevent optimal functioning, forcing personnel to work extended shifts and compromising supervision.
- Forensic capabilities are also strained, with nearly 50 percent of 10,000 sanctioned posts vacant. Telangana (91 percent) and Bihar (85 percent) face the highest shortages, delaying investigations and weakening evidence quality.
- Delhi’s district judiciary stands out with a lower vacancy rate of 11 percent and the highest proportion of women judges at 45 percent. Still, challenges remain. In 2024, each district court judge in Delhi handled 2,023 cases, up from 1,551 in 2017, though still below the national average. Despite this, Delhi recorded one of the lowest case clearance rates (CCR) in the country at 78 percent in 2024. The capital’s district courts achieved a 100 percent CCR only once between 2017 and 2024.
Overcrowded prisons is another perennial problem, with most lacking adequate jail staff, compromising inmate welfare and rehabilitation. Such issues are what financial fugitives like Mehul Choksi, Nirav Modi and Vijay Mallya use as their defence against being extradited to India.
Tamil Nadu performs the best in prisons with one of the lowest occupancy rates (77 percent, compared to the national average of over 131 percent).
Telangana and Andhra Pradesh also outperform other states, particularly with regards to the police. State financial budgets gave short shrift to issues like financial support and related matters when it comes to prisons and prisoner welfare. The Report shows that Andhra Pradesh spends the most on inmates, at Rs 2.6 lakh annually per prisoner, compared to Telangana’s Rs 33,277. These investments correlate with better prison conditions, but highlight regional disparities.
The Report said the national per capita spend on legal-aid was Rs 6.46 per annum whereas the national per capita spend on the judiciary stood at Rs 182. “No state spends more than one per cent of its total annual expenditure on the judiciary,” said the Report.
However, certain metrics indicate some progress: 78 percent of police stations now have women’s help desks and 83 percent are equipped with CCTV surveillance, several significant gaps still exist. 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 percent 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 percent and 12 percent of officer ranks, respectively, highlighting a persistent imbalance in representation.
Other factors contributing to the glacial pace of justice delivery include the shocking statistic that there are only 15 judges per million people, far below the Law Commission’s recommendation of 50 judges per million population. In January, 2025, the actual number of sitting judges, including those of the Supreme Court, stood at 21,285, an increase of almost six per cent from 2022, but well below the present sanctioned strength of 26,927.
According to the Report, the vacancy among High Court judges is at 33 percent, and 21 percent at the district judiciary, which means a considerably high workload for judges, especially in the High Courts.
In Allahabad and Madhya Pradesh High Courts, the caseload per judge amounts to 15,000 cases, and nationally, in the district courts, the average workload is 2,200 cases per judge. The Report says: “The High Courts of Sikkim, Tripura and Meghalaya are the only High Court that work with a full complement of judges.
Measured by population, India averages one High Court judge for 18.7 lakh population and one subordinate court judge for 69,000 people. In only eight High Courts does one High Court judge serve less than 10 lakh people. Everywhere else, it is between 12 lakhs (Madras High Court) to 38 lakhs (Patna High Court) people.”
Sikkim once again topped the table among the seven small states (with populations less than one crore each), followed by Himachal Pradesh (2022: 6th), and Arunachal Pradesh (2022: 2nd). Among other states, between IJR 2022 and 2025, Bihar recorded the most improvement, followed by Chhattisgarh and Odisha. Uttar Pradesh and Uttarakhand also performed better than seven other states, including Haryana, Telangana, and Gujarat on the improvement scorecard, it said.
The IJR 2025 has reiterated both immediate and foundational corrections. It has flagged urgent filling of vacancies and increased representation to effect irreversible change. It has also made the radical suggestion that justice delivery be designated as “an essential service”.
As Justice Sanjay Kishan Kaul, former judge, Supreme Court, says in the Foreword of the Report: “The India Justice Report is serving as a crucial catalyst for this essential dialogue. It is not just a document of record. It is a call to action. Its findings are both a mirror and a roadmap reflecting the reality of our justice system while offering a path forward. The question before us is whether we will use this knowledge to drive change or allow yet another cycle of inaction to unfold. The task before us is clear. What remains is the will to act.”
—The writer is former Senior Managing Editor, India Legal magazine
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