The recently-released India Justice Report 2020 that ranks states based on their capability to deliver justice ranks Maharashtra as the best-performing among 18 large and mid-sized states, followed by Tamil Nadu and Telangana. The analysis uses proxies for structural and financial capacity, gleaned from budget data and particulars of human resource, workload, infrastructure, and diversity across judiciary, police, prison and legal aid. Among the seven small states, Tripura topped the ranking followed by Sikkim and Goa. However, the report makes a special mention that nearly two-thirds of the country’s prison inmates are yet to be convicted—that is, they are undertrials. As a result, the prisons are bursting at the seams due to occupancy much beyond capacity. Another striking fact is that women’s representation is being merely paid a lip-service—though there are a larger number of women in these segments…