Telangana State ranks first for police performance; AP and Karnataka follow: IJR report

Hyderabad: Telangana State has secured first rank in the country for police performance, followed by Andhra Pradesh and Karnataka, according to the India Justice Report (IJR) 2025.

Four pillars of justice

Based on its performance in administering justice to citizens, Telangana ranked top out of 18 states with populations greater than one crore. Additionally, the three Southern states once again outperformed one another in the four pillars of justice—police, jails, court and legal aid—with Karnataka leading the way, followed by Andhra Pradesh and Telangana.

Since 2019, the Tata Trusts-initiated report has been ranking the States based on the performance of departments that offer justice to the public, such as the police, courts, prisons and legal assistance. Several civil society organisations, including the Centre for Social Justice, Common Cause and the Commonwealth Human Rights Initiative, collaborated to create the 2025 study.

Telangana is 7th in jail administration and 10th in legal aid

The IJR 2025 prioritises basic reforms, such as recognising justice delivery as an essential service, as well as rapid fixes, such as quickly expanding representation and filling vacancies. The fourth edition of the report states that Telangana ranked first in policing, second in the judiciary, seventh in jail administration and tenth in legal aid.

With a total score of 6.15, Telangana came in third place nationwide, while Karnataka came in first place with a total score of 6.78.

After rising from 11th to third place in 2020 and 2022, Telangana demonstrated a steady improvement and still held that position in 2025. Telangana’s first-place police rating is mostly due to its high number of police stations and low constable vacancy rate of 13 per cent, which is significantly lower than the national average.

One urban police station for every 10.6 sq km

According to the research, there is one police station in urban areas for every 10.6 square kilometres and one in rural areas for every 282 square kilometres. In addition, women’s assistance desks and CCTV cameras are installed in 85 per cent of police stations. However, only 9 per cent of police officers are female, which is still a poor representation.

With 33 per cent of its High Court justices and 55 per cent of its district court judges being female, Telangana has the most female judges in the nation. The research, however, raised concerns about the prison system, pointing out that 59 per cent of Telangana’s prisons lack doctors.

Telangana spent Rs 33,277 per prisoner

According to 2022-2023 estimates, with 6,500 detainees, the State spent an average of Rs 33,277 per prisoner. With just one legal aid clinic for every 440 villagers, access to legal aid services is still restricted. But Telangana has used up all its legal aid budget for 2022-2023, which is equivalent to 80 per cent of its overall legal aid allocation.