New Delhi: The third India Justice Report, released on Tuesday (April 4), analyses the changes – both positive and negative – in India’s justice delivery system across four parameters: police, judiciary, prisons and legal aid. The report uses statistics to highlight whether states are living up standards set nationally and internationally.
Staff vacancies were found to be an issue across these arms. Low budgets – or budgets that are not spent – too mean that the system is not operating at the capacity needed or planned for.
Below, in nine charts, are some of the salient findings of the report – overcrowded prisons, not enough training centres for police personnel, a rising number of pending cases per judge, and more.
1. Policing concentrated in urban areas
While 60% of India’s population lives in rural areas, the police forces are concentrated largely in urban areas. This is true in several states (but not all) – the population covered by each thana is far higher in the rural areas. “Only 6 states/UTs—Goa (140), Tamil Nadu (137), Bihar (125), Kerala (82), Puducherry (21) and Lakshadweep (1)—meet the National Police Commission’s 1981 recommended area coverage of 150 sq km for a rural police station,” the report notes.
Source: IJR 2022
2. Police training academies are overloaded
For 26.88 lakh police personnel, India has only 211 training schools and academies. While research from across the world suggests that training across fields – including sensitisation, information on legal changes and courses for specialisation – cannot be a one-off event for police personnel. However, with not enough training institutes and the ones that do exist training an average of 12,744 people every year, the scope for this is limited.
In most states, a very small part of the total police budget is spent on training.
Source: IJR 2022
3. Prison overcrowding is getting worse
“Prison populations have risen steadily from 4.81 lakh (2019) to 4.89 lakh (2020), and 5.54 lakh in 2021: while the number of people admitted to 1,319 prisons during 2021 increased by 10.8 per cent to 18.1 lakh from 16.3 lakh the year before,” the IJR notes. However, with infrastructure not keeping up, prison overcrowding – already a major problem – is only getting worse.
As of December 2021, the average prison in the country has an occupancy rate of 130%. In some states this number is far worse; in Uttarakhand, for instance, in December 2021, the occupancy rate was 185% – there were 6,921 incarcerated people in prisons that were supposed to have 3,741 people.
“Nationally, roughly 30 per cent (391 prisons) record occupancy rates of 150 per cent and above, and 54 per cent (709 prisons) run above 100 per cent capacity. More than half of the prisons in 23 states/UTs are overcrowded,” the report notes.
Source: IJR 2022
4. Number of undertrial prisoners increasing
Currently in India, 77% of the incarcerated population comprises undertrials – which means they haven’t been convicted of a crime. This number, according to the IJR, has nearly doubled since 2010 (going from 2.14 lakh in 2010 to 4.3 lack in 2021).
“Between 2017 and 2021, all states/UTs, with the exception of Arunachal Pradesh, Meghalaya, Nagaland and Puducherry, showed an increase in undertrial population. Among the 18 large and mid-sized states, Punjab recorded the highest increase, at 3.75 percentage points, while among the seven small states, Goa showed the highest increase of 5.23 percentage points,” the report states.
The period of detention of undertrials is also increasing, indicating that trials are taking longer or bail is being granted in less cases.
Source: IJR 2022
5. Cases pending per judge rising
Cases taking a long time to come to a conclusion is not a new problem in India; much of this has also been seen as an outcome of judicial vacancies across the country.
“As of December 2022, a total of 4.9 crore cases remained pending across high courts and district courts in the country. As many as 1.9 lakh cases have been pending for over 30 years and 56 lakh cases for more than 10 years. On average, 49 per cent and 29 per cent of these cases are pending for more than 5 years in the high courts and lower courts respectively. In addition, there are around 70,000 cases pending in the Supreme Court,” the IJR notes.
“At high court level, Uttar Pradesh has the highest average pendency; cases remain pending for an average of 11.34 years, and in West Bengal for 9.9 years. The lowest average high court pendency is in Tripura (1 years), Sikkim (1.9 years) and Meghalaya (2.1 years),” it continues.
Source: IJR 2022
6. Share of women high court judges remains low
While the representation of women judges in the subordinate courts is rising, the same cannot be said about the high courts. Between 2020 and 2022, the high courts saw a little less than two percentage point increase in women’s representation.
“Emblematic of the glass ceiling, there are more women judges at the district court level than at the high court level. Nationally, women account for 35 per cent of the total number of judges at this level. But distribution across states is uneven. Among the small states Goa, with 70 per cent, has the highest percentage, followed by Meghalaya (63 per cent ) and Nagaland (63 per cent ). Among 18 large and mid-sized states, Gujarat (19.5 per cent) has the least and Telangana (52.8 per cent) the largest share of women judges. In other large states like Jharkhand and Bihar, women judges accounted for 23 per cent and 24 per cent of all judges respectively,” the report notes.
Source: IJR 2022
7. No state/UT fulfilled all quotas for SC/ST/OBC judges at district-court level
There is no state-wise data on caste diversity amongst high court judges. However, at the district-court level, the IKR has found that “no state/UT could fully meet all its Scheduled Castes, Scheduled Tribes and Other Backward Classes quotas”.
“Nine states/UTs met their Other Backward Classes quotas. At 50 per cent, Tamil Nadu has the second highest percentage of reservation in this category, fulfilling its quota completely. Chhattisgarh fulfilled its quotas for Scheduled Castes and Other Backward Classes and Telangana fully met its quota for Scheduled Tribes and Other Backward Classes. Ladakh, Manipur, Chhattisgarh and Gujarat exceeded their Scheduled Castes quota,” the report noted.
“Uttarakhand, Telangana and Arunachal Pradesh filled their Scheduled Tribes quotas. Himachal Pradesh (91 per cent) is closest to fulfilling its Scheduled Tribes quota requirements, while Gujarat could only fill 2 per cent of its Scheduled Tribes quota. Eight states/UTs have less than 10 per cent Scheduled Tribe judges and 3 states/ UTs have no reservations for Scheduled Tribes.”
Source: IJR 2022
8. Allocation to legal aid increasing, but no state/UT used its entire budget allocation
Free legal aid is essential to a well-functioning criminal justice system, particularly in a country like India where access to justice is unequal and severely hindered by the lack of resources.
Funding for legal aid comes from both NALSA, a central body, and state finances. “NALSA’s funds are typically for activities that include conducting Lok Adalats, mediation, training programs and honorariums to lawyers, paralegals, mediators and judges presiding over Lok Adalats, while state contributions primarily go towards infrastructure, personnel and administrative expenses,” according to the IJR.
“Over the last two years, the overall allocation for legal services has increased substantially,” the IJR found. “NALSA’s disbursement to states increased by 46 per cent to 144.3 crore in 2021–2223 (from Rs. 99 crore in 2020–21).24 For the most part, state contributions to the legal aid budgets also increased.”
“Curiously, the overall utilisation of NALSA funds reduced in 2021–22, and of the Rs. 183 crore (1.83 billion) allotted to states, Rs. 138 crore (1.38 billion) remained unutilised. Only Jharkhand and Manipur utilised 100 per cent, followed by Arunachal Pradesh and Mizoram (97 per cent each), while Odisha and Andhra Pradesh could manage only 50 per cent. Goa with 49 per cent utilised the least,” the report notes.
A majority of the states utilised more than 50% of their state-sanctioned budget, but this too wasn’t true everywhere.
Source: IJR 2022
9. Implementation of victim compensation schemes remains subpar
One of the jobs of the legal aid system is to ensure victim compensation, through schemes meant to support those who have suffered loss or been injured due to a crime. Comprehensive guidelines exist on how these schemes should be implemented, yet their implementation “remains subpar”, according to the IJR.
“Between 2016–17 and 2021–22, State Legal Aid Service Authorities altogether received 97,037 applications seeking compensation. Of these, they disposed of only 64,333 (66 per cent) applications across all states,” the report notes.
Source: IJR 2022
