SHILLONG, May 18: Meghalaya continues to lag behind most Indian states when it comes to gender representation in its police force.
According to the latest India Justice Report 2025, the state is projected to take 86 years to achieve 33% representation of women in the police at the current pace of recruitment.
This is in stark contrast to the progress seen in some other states. Andhra Pradesh and Bihar could reach the 33% mark in just three years if they continue at their present rate.
On the other end of the spectrum, states like Jharkhand, Tripura, and the Andaman & Nicobar Islands may take up to 200 years. Assam, Meghalaya’s neighbour, is estimated to take around 120 years.
The latest report also reveals that Meghalaya ranks fifth out of seven small states in terms of overall justice delivery performance, scoring 4.02 out of 10 in the composite index. This index assesses states across four pillars — police, judiciary, prisons, and legal aid. Sikkim and Himachal Pradesh lead this category, while Meghalaya is among the bottom three alongside Mizoram and Goa.
In sector-specific rankings, Meghalaya stands fifth in police, fourth in prisons, third in judiciary, and fifth in legal aid. The police sector, in particular, reflects the deep-rooted gender imbalance.
As of 2023, women made up just 5.8% of the state police force. On an average, each police station had only 1.3 women sub-inspectors and 7.7 women constables — far below the Ministry of Home Affairs’ recommendation of at least three sub-inspectors and 10 constables per station. The situation is slightly better in the prison system, where 16.1% of the staff are women. On the legal aid front, all prisons in Meghalaya have functioning legal aid clinics, putting the state in a select group meeting this requirement.
The judiciary reveals a mixed picture. While subordinate courts in the state have shown marginal improvement in clearing long-pending cases, 36.7% of cases were still pending for over five years as of January 2025. Even more troubling is that over 51% of cases had been pending for more than three years, among the worst in the country.
However, the High Court of Meghalaya has emerged as a bright spot. It has one of the best records in the country, with over 91% of its cases under five years old and just 0.7% pending for more than two decades.
Gender gaps continue across the justice system. The state has no women judges in its high court and 44.4% in its subordinate courts. With such disparities across sectors, the report points toward the urgent need for Meghalaya to implement structural reforms and make gender diversity in the justice system more than just a policy goal.
The India Justice Report is the only data-based, periodic national ranking that tracks the capacity of states to deliver justice. It draws exclusively from official government statistics and is produced in collaboration by DAKSH, Commonwealth Human Rights Initiative, Common Cause, Centre for Social Justice, Vidhi Centre for Legal Policy, and TISS-Prayas. The initiative is led by Tata Trusts.
