India Justice Report 2019

DAKSH contributed to the conceptualization and development of the India Justice Report 2019 — a first-of-its-kind initiative that ranks individual Indian states in relation to their capacity to deliver access to justice. The Tata Trusts brought together a group of sectoral experts to develop a report that would measure the structural capacity of state-based instrumentalities of the justice system against their own declared mandates, with a view to pinpointing areas that lend themselves to immediate solutions.

The report telescopes existing research with additional research. It is conceived of as being the first of a series which would help review the justice system on a regular basis.

Presently the ranking assesses the four ‘pillars’ of the justice system — police, prisons, legal aid and the judiciary — in each state to deliver on their mandates. The report also examines 5-year trends to demonstrate a state’s intention to improve access and delivery of justice by increasing resources, repairing shortfalls and clearing blockages.

The ranking, seen through the filters of budget, infrastructure and manpower (including diversity and workload), affirms in terms of objective data that the formal justice system in the country continues to grapple with problems of high manpower shortages, resource misallocation, financial shortfall and structural inadequacies.

The full report can be accessed here.

The backgrounder for the judiciary pillar that DAKSH contributed to can be accessed here.

To view the interactive web visualisation of the India Justice Report for the overall and pillar-wise ranking, assessing and comparing of states, please click here.