Representation of women in police force still remains dismal with a report highlighting that women account for seven per cent of India¡¯s 2.4 million strong police personnel.
The India Justice Report 2019, commissioned by Tata Trusts and prepared by groups like Centre for Social Justice, Common Cause, Commonwealth Human Rights Initiative, DAKSH, Tata Institute of Social Sciences - Prayas and Vidhi Centre for Legal Policy, highlights the poor representation of women and minorities in the police force.
Report adds that only six per cent of women among all police personnel in India are at the officer level.
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"Even if states commit to increasing women's representation at a modest additional 1 per cent per annum, it will take most of them and institutions decades to reach even to this aspirational 33 per cent," said the report.
Not just women, the report also showed that representation of SCs, STs and OBCs in police continue to remain poor, with numerous vacancies in the reserved positions.
Additionally, in the past five years, merely 6.4 per cent of the entire police force has been provided in-service training, meaning 90 per cent of police personnel are currently dealing with the public without any up-to-date training.
Not just the police force, but women are finding it difficult to find space in the country¡¯s judiciary system as well. The report sheds light on the fact that only 18 per cent of legal aid service lawyers are women across India, according to the report.
Highlighting the shortcomings of Indian courts and the mammoth number of pending cases stressing the judiciary, the report revealed that there are 28 million cases pending in Indian subordinate courts and 24 per cent have been pending for over five years.
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"In Bihar, Uttar Pradesh, West Bengal, Odisha, Gujarat along with Meghalaya and Andaman and Nicobar Islands, at least one in every four cases have been pending for more than 5 years," the report said.
There are 2.3 million cases pending in courts for over 10 years.
India also lacks a steady number of courtrooms to handle such a huge number of cases, moreover, compared to the sanctioned strength of judges in the country, the courtrooms fall short.
Also, India's prisons are in a dire need of an overhaul, with the data highlighting 95,366 inmates are handled by 1 sanctioned correctional staff in Uttar Pradesh.