India, May 4 -- Every system is perfectly designed to get the results it gets. For India's justice system, does this mean it is designed for underperformance, inequity, and delay?

Based exclusively on the government's own data, the recently launched fourth India Justice Report for 2025, like its predecessors, once again assesses the structural capacity of the police, judiciary, prisons and legal aid of 18 large and seven small states to deliver justice. The report lays bare the reality of the system -- short of money, infrastructure, and manpower.

Reeling under impossible workloads and under-representative of the people it serves, it is too slow, distant, and difficult to be useful for far too many. It does what it can but is increasing...