Failing justice system a blot on democracy

The India Justice Report 2025, which was released recently, makes a severe indictment of the country’s justice system and shows how deficient its critical components are. The report has tracked the performance of states in four broad areas – policing, judiciary, prisons, and legal aid – and found their functioning seriously affected in many ways. There are problems of understaffing and lack of diversity, representation, and infrastructure in all segments of the system. Understaffing and poor social representation, including women’s representation, remain a serious problem in all areas including policing, judiciary, and prisons. The country has only 15 judges per million people, which is much less than the Law Commission’s 1987 recommendation of 50 judges per million population. Vacancies in High Courts stood at 33 per cent of the total sanctioned strength while in district courts, the average workload of a judge is 2,200 cases. No state has met its target on women’s representation in the police force. Infrastructural facilities are inadequate and these gaps have affected the system of delivery. Southern states have performed better than the others in all areas but the overall picture is, still, grim.

One major area of concern highlighted in the report is the overcrowding of prisons. This is not a new problem but despite all the measures adopted over the years, it has only aggravated. As of 2022, 5.73 lakh inmates were lodged in facilities built for 4.36 lakh. The problem is not just one of numbers and space. Much of the issue can be traced to undertrials who wait for years for justice. There is a much higher proportion of weaker sections such as SCs, STs, and Muslims than others in the prisons. Many proposals made in the past to reduce the undertrial population have not worked. The treatment of undertrials raises very human questions, not just legal, procedural, and systemic. Mental illness among the inmates has doubled since 2012. However, there are only 25 psychologists for the entire prisoner population. There is a serious medical crisis as well; vacancy in medical officer posts across prisons stands at 43 per cent. The prisoner-doctor ratio is at 775:1 against the recommended 300:1.

Riddled with deficiencies, India’s justice system is failing the poor more than the others. Many people have died without getting justice and accused persons have been found innocent after having spent many years in prison. A democratic and constitutional society has the responsibility to deliver timely justice to all its citizens. Our society has failed here.