But not all the data we trawled through was as succinct. For instance, we noticed that since 2010, the sanctioned strength for police personnel across the police (Civil police, District Armed Reserve police, Special Armed police and Indian Reserve Battalion police), as well as the budget set aside for the police have increased. But large, whole numbers don’t tell the whole story.

In 2021, the number of actual police personnel was the same as what was the sanctioned strength in 2010. The total expenditure on police has increased two times but overall vacancies are stagnant at 22%. Since 2010, the vacancy at the inspector, senior inspector, assistant senior inspector and head constable levels has increased from 21.7% to 27.4%, 33.5% to 34.3%, 23.4% to 25%, and 18.8% to 23.6% respectively. Furthermore, the training of police was found to be severely wanting. Between 2012 and 2016, only 6.4 % police constables reported to have received in-service training. This means that 90% of the force functions with only induction training. There are only 211 training institutes to meet training needs of over 2 million police personnel in 2021, and though the expenditure on police and training has nearly doubled since 2010-11, total spend on training has remained less than 2% of police budgets over the last decade.

The average national occupancy rate in prisons touched 130% in 2021, the highest since 2007. Prison population grew by nearly 80% from 370,000 in 2009 to 550,000 in 2021, but this atmospheric rise was not matched by a similar increase in the capacity of the total 1,319 jails in the country, which only grew by 38.6%. When we disaggregate it, as we must, and see the ground situation we realise that the increase in capacity has been uneven. Take for example Tamil Nadu which, in 2009, had 134 jails and 69% occupancy while Uttar Pradesh had 62 jails and occupancy of nearly 200%. A decade later, UP could add only 13 new jails even though its occupancy has remained more than 175%. Tamil Nadu, on the other hand, added eight new jails over the decade and has kept its occupancy levels well below 100%.

Another matter of concern is the increasing numbers of undertrials in prisons — now comprising 77% of the total prison population across the country. In 2021, except for Andaman & Nicobar Islands, Arunachal Pradesh, Mizoram, Tripura, and Madhya Pradesh, the undertrial population of all states and Union Territories exceeded 60%. The number has been highest since 2010, having nearly doubled from 240,000 to 420,000 in 2021.

After the police, the judiciary receives the most financial resources. The per capita spend on judiciary has increased from ₹63.5 in 2010-11 to ₹146.8 in 2020-21. However, vacancies in both subordinate judiciary and high courts have remained stagnant or grown over this period. While the sanctioned strength has grown by 43% from 18,046 (in 2010) to 25,736 (in 2022), the actual working strength has not kept pace, and there remains a shortfall of 22% in the lower judiciary and 34% at the high court level. Inevitably, the caseload per judge has increased over the decade rising from around 14,500 in 2010 to 16,700 in 2015 and 20,000 in 2022.

Free legal aid services have the potential to transform India's justice landscape if they are well-resourced and funded. However, they remain the weakest link going by budgetary allocations. In 2020-21 the total spending by states and UTs and the National Legal Services Authority was just ₹622 crore, thereby making the per capita spend a minuscule ₹4.57 only. This is an iota of what is needed to serve the needs of over 80 crore Indians eligible for free legal aid.

Maja Daruwala is the editor of IJR. Lakhwinder Kaur is a researcher while Valay Singh is the project lead of the IJR

The views expressed are personal