15 April,2025 04:21 PM IST | Mumbai | mid-day online correspondent
Around 78 percent of police stations now have Women Help Desks, the report said. Representational Pic/File
The 2025 India Justice Report (IJR) on Tuesday has stated that India's 20.3 lakh strong police force has less than 1,000 women officers in senior ranks like Superintendents of Police (SP) and Director Generals of Police (DGP).
It said that the women officers in non-IPS ranks comprise just 8 per cent of the 3.1 lakh total officers, with 90 per cent of women in police in the constabulary.
According to the report, there also have been some positive developments since the last report.
Around 78 percent of police stations now have Women Help Desks and the per capita legal aid spending has nearly doubled to Rs 6.46.
ALSO READ
The report stated that around 86 per cent of prisons now have video-conferencing facilities and women now make up 38 per cent of the judges in the district courts.
It said that out of 2.42 lakh women in the police force, only 960 are in high-ranking IPS roles. About 90 per cent of all women in police are in the lowest constable level and women hold just 8 per cent of officer-level positions in police forces.
No state or union territory has met its own targets for women's reservation in the police, the report said.
The India Justice Report was first initiated by Tata Trusts, with the first ever ranking published in 2019. This is the fourth edition of the report, in collaboration with partners including the Centre for Social Justice, Common Cause, Commonwealth Human Rights Initiative, DAKSH, TISS-Prayas, Vidhi Centre for Legal Policy, and How India Lives, IJR's data partner.
The India Justice Report, a periodic report, ranks Karnataka first overall, with the state retaining its top spot among the 18 large and mid-sized states (with populations of over one crore each).
It was followed by Andhra Pradesh, climbing from fifth in 2022 to second, Telangana (2022 ranking- 3rd), and Kerala (2022 ranking- 6th).
The report further stated that the five southern states dominated the rankings, owing to better performance across the four pillars in comparison to other states. Karnataka is the only state that met its caste quotas (SC, ST, and OBC) in both the police (at the constabulary and officer level) as well as in the district judiciary.
Kerala has the lowest vacancy among High Court judges whereas Tamil Nadu performs the best in prisons with one of the lowest occupancy rates (77 per cent, compared to the national average of over 131 per cent).
Maja Daruwala, Chief Editor, India Justice Report, said, "As India moves forward into a hundred years of being a democratic, rule of law nation, the promise of rule of law and equal rights will remain hollow unless underwritten by a reformed justice system. Reform is not optional. It is urgent. A well-resourced responsive justice system is a constitutional imperative that must be experienced as an everyday reality available to every citizen."
Meanwhile, Telangana and Andhra Pradesh also outperform other states, particularly with regards to the police, ranking 1st and 2nd on that pillar respectively, the IJR stated.
It said that Sikkim (2022 ranking- 1st), 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 7 other states including Haryana, Telangana, and Gujarat on the improvement scorecard, the report said.
Women in police: Where are they?
- Out of the 2,42,835 total women in police, 960 are within the IPS ranks (Total 4,940: DIG, DG, IG, AIGP, Adl SP, ADLSP / Dy. Com)
- 24,322 women are within non-IPS ranks (Total 3,10,444: DySP, Inspector, SI and ASI)
- 1003 DySPs are women (Total 11,406: DySPs ). Madhya Pradesh has the highest number of DySPs: 133.
- 2,17,553 women in the Constabulary (Total 17, 24,312: Head constables and constables)
