VIJAYAWADA: Andhra Pradesh has climbed to 2nd place in the 2025 India Justice Report (IJR) rankings. Initiated by Sir Dorabji Tata Trust, the report evaluates performance of various departments involved in justice delivery including police, judiciary and prisons. It highlights areas where states are making headway or falling behind in the process of fighting crime and in justice delivery.
Andhra Pradesh scored 6.32 out of 10, and to move up from 5th ranking in 2022 to 2nd ranking this year. Karnataka topped the list with a score of 6.78. With regards to various departments, Andhra Pradesh ranked 4th in prisons and 5th in legal aid, showcasing progress in its justice delivery systems. This is the fourth edition of the report, which is being published since 2019.
Andhra Pradesh has shown significant improvement with regard to justice delivery system. The state ranked 13th in 2019, 12th in 2020, and jumped to 5th in 2022, and now 2nd in 2025. Breaking it down, Andhra Pradesh ranked 2nd in police, (moving up from 3rd in 2022), 4th in prisons (maintained its 2022 standing), 5th in judiciary, (moving up from 11th in 2022), and 5th in legal aid (improving from 13th in 2022).
With regard to police department, the state boasts a 22% share of women, the highest in the country. Projections indicate Andhra Pradesh and Bihar will reach 33% women representation in roughly three years.
In terms of diversity, Andhra Pradesh has 21.5% women among total police staff and 5.2% among police officers, while women comprise 8.4% in total prison staff.
Notably, Andhra Pradesh leads the nation in prison expenditure, spending Rs. 2.6 lakh annually per inmate, or Rs. 733 daily, significantly higher than the national average of Rs. 44,110 per prisoner in 2022-23.
Andhra Pradesh has also made progress with regard to providing healthcare within prisons, reporting only a 5% shortfall among doctors in 2022, the lowest in the country. In contrast, Telangana had a 59% shortfall.
Presence of women in judiciary and legal aid surges
Notably, the State has increased representation of Scheduled Caste judges to 111 from 91, Scheduled Tribe judges to 83 from 69, and Other Backward Classes judges to 138 from 119 in subordinate courts.
In judiciary, women comprise 16.7% of High Court judges and 50.9% of judges in subordinate courts.
The State’s legal aid system has also shown improvement with 20.7% women panel lawyers, 33.6% women para-legal volunteers, and 50% women in District Legal Service Authorities.
The State has 10.5 judges per 10 lakh population in subordinate courts and 1.8 judges in high courts.
Furthermore, Andhra Pradesh also records low vacancies among judges, with 19% in High Courts and 12% in district courts.
However, Andhra Pradesh faces challenges, including a persistent shortfall of over 10% among Scheduled Caste officers since 2016 and an 8% shortfall among District Legal Services Authority secretaries.
AP’s Justice
Andhra Pradesh scored 6.32 out of 10, to move up to No 2 ranking in 2025 from No.5 ranking in 2022
Karnataka tops the list with a score of 6.78.
With regard to various departments, AP ranked 2nd in police, 4th in prisons, 5th in judiciary, 5th in providing legal aid