BHUBANESWAR: Odisha may have registered consistent improvement in its justice delivery systems, but the state continues to struggle across several indicators, particularly policing and women’s representation in law enforcement agencies.
According to India Justice Report (IJR) 2025, which assesses states on the capacity of their police, judiciary, prisons, and legal aid mechanisms, Odisha scored 5.4 out of 10 and improved its overall ranking from 10 in 2022 to eight now, among 18 large and mid-sized states.
The state was recognised for improving across 41 out of 68 static indicators between 2022 and 2025, one of the highest improvements seen among peer states. It has particularly strengthened performance in prisons and legal aid pillars, while police and judiciary systems remain areas of concern.
Despite efforts, the police force continues to struggle with capacity issues with the state’s rank slipping from fourth to eighth in the policing pillar. The police-population ratio, vacancies, and underfunded training mechanisms contributed to the poor performance. The report noted that the state allocates less than 1.2 per cent (pc) of the total police budget to training, significantly hampering preparedness.
Odisha has been placed 10th in the judiciary ranking. While it lags behind states like Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh, improvements in filling vacancies and adopting digital tools have contributed to a modest uplift. However, challenges remain in reducing case pendency and enhancing court infrastructure. The second highest 58.5 pc cases (highest 70.7 pc in Bihar) are pending in subordinate courts for above three years and 43 pc cases are pending for more than five years.
The state has made strides in gender diversity across pillars, particularly in the judiciary and legal aid systems. But representation of Scheduled Tribes and persons with disabilities remains far below national targets. The representation of Scheduled Caste judges has gone up from 11 pc in 2022 to 18 pc and that of STs from zero to two pc while it was the highest at 64 pc for OBCs.
In Orissa High Court, 45.5 pc posts of judges, 19.2 pc judges in subordinate courts and 35.1 pc high court staff are lying vacant, while 22 pc constables and 23.6 pc police officers are to be recruited. There are 51 pc vacancies in forensics.
Similarly, the share of women has been low at 11 pc in police, 13 pc among prison staff, 5.6 pc among high court judges, 47.7 pc among subordinate court judges, 14.2 pc among panel lawyers and 38.5 pc among paralegal volunteers. At the current rate of recruitment, it would take Odisha 74 years to have 33 pc women in the police force.
Legal experts said Odisha is moving in the right direction, but capacity deficits, limited budgets, and institutional delays continue to undermine reforms. The report has called for higher investment in police training and forensic labs, decentralised legal aid mechanisms and cross-sectoral reforms that link prisons, courts and policing, they added.
Report Card
Odisha improves overall ranking from 10 to 8
State marks improvement in 41 of 68 indicators
Rank slips from 4 to 8 in policing
Share of women in police at just 11 %
58.5% cases pending in subordinate courts for over 3 years
45.5% judge posts vacant in Orissa High Court