Governance · Sub-pillar 3.2
Safety and justice
Freedom from crime, effective and fair policing, timely access to justice for ordinary citizens, humane treatment of those awaiting trial, and safety on roads and railways.
What is safety and justice?
Safety and justice is sub-pillar 3.2 of the 47 BH framework for a developed Bharat by 2047, the second of seven sub-pillars under the Governance pillar. It asks whether people are safe from crime, whether policing is effective and fair, whether an ordinary citizen can get justice in reasonable time, how those awaiting trial are treated, and how many lives are lost on roads and railways.
Why it matters for 2047
Safety is the most basic service a state provides. A woman who can walk home after dark, a shopkeeper who does not pay for protection, a family that can report a crime and expect it to be investigated: these are what make the difference between a country that is governed and one that is merely administered.
Justice delayed is not only a legal failure but a human one. A person held in prison for years without trial, often for longer than any sentence would have been, has lost those years whatever the verdict. The share of prisoners who are undertrials is one of the clearest tests of whether a justice system treats the poor as it treats the rich.
47 BH counts road and rail deaths here deliberately. More Indians die on the roads each year than from almost any other preventable cause, and most of those deaths are failures of enforcement, engineering and behaviour that governance can fix.
Where India stands
- 1,72,890
people died in road accidents in India in 2023, about 20 an hour; two-wheeler riders were 44.8% of the dead and pedestrians 20.4%, and over-speeding was blamed for 68% of deaths.[1]
- 418.9
cognisable crimes were registered per lakh people in 2024, down from 448.3 in 2023; crimes against women fell slightly to 4.41 lakh, while cyber crimes rose 17% to over 1.01 lakh.[2]
- 73.5%
of India's 5.3 lakh prisoners at the end of 2023 were undertrials, people not yet convicted of anything; prisons held 120.8% of their capacity.[3]
- 120
police personnel per lakh people is India's actual strength, against a suggested standard of 222; 28% of officer posts and 21% of constable posts were vacant, and 12% of the force were women.[4]
On crime, the official count moved in the right direction in 2024: total registered crime fell about 6% and the crime rate was the lowest since 2019, with crimes against women down 1.5%. [2] The exceptions are the fast-growing categories: cyber crime up 17%, crimes against children up 5.9% and against senior citizens up 16.9%. [2]
On justice, the system remains slow and thin. More than 5.6 crore cases are pending, nearly three in four prisoners are awaiting trial, and prisons hold a fifth more people than they were built for. [3][5] The police who should be investigating are themselves short-handed, with a fifth to a quarter of posts vacant. [4]
On the roads, India loses more than 1.7 lakh lives a year, and two-thirds of the dead are between 18 and 45. [1] A note on the numbers: crime statistics count cases registered with the police, so they rise when reporting improves and fall when it does not; road deaths and prison figures are administrative counts; police strength is from the Bureau of Police Research and Development as summarised by the India Justice Report.
On the 47 BH report card
Every 15 August, 47 BH reports how far India has come on each sub-pillar. For this sub-pillar, the headline indicators are:
- Road deaths per year and per lakh people (Ministry of Road Transport and Highways, Road Accidents in India).
- Crime rate per lakh people, and the rate of crimes against women (NCRB, Crime in India).
- Share of prisoners awaiting trial and prison occupancy (NCRB, Prison Statistics India); cases pending (National Judicial Data Grid).
- Police per lakh people and vacancies (Bureau of Police Research and Development).
Two lenses on safety and justice
City and village
47 BH asks whether a woman in a village can reach a police station that will register her complaint as readily as one in a city, and whether a migrant worker in a city is as safe on the road and as protected from crime as a long-time resident. Road deaths are concentrated on highways through rural India; reported crime is concentrated in cities, partly because reporting is easier there. [1][2]
Learn, avoid, protect
- Learn
- What can India learn from countries that cut road deaths by half through speed enforcement, helmets, safer road design and trauma care, and from police forces that are trusted because they are accountable and representative?
- Avoid
- Which mistakes should it avoid, such as measuring police by arrests rather than by crimes prevented and solved, or treating long pre-trial detention as normal?
- Protect
- What of its own should it protect, such as community policing traditions, the Constitution's guarantee of a fair trial, and the legal aid system that reaches the poorest accused?
What this sub-pillar does not cover
Each topic has one home in the framework. These related topics sit elsewhere:
- Equal application of laws, contracts and property rights: Governance: Rule of law
- Terrorism, insurgency and the protection of critical infrastructure: Governance: National and cyber security
- Online fraud and scams against individuals: Governance: Digital rights and safety
- Violence and harassment against women as a question of equality: Family and Society: Women's participation and safety
- Traffic discipline and behaviour in shared spaces: Values: Civic sense and participation
Questions about safety and justice
How many people die on India's roads each year?
1,72,890 people died in 4,80,583 road accidents in 2023, according to the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways' Road Accidents in India 2023. Two-wheeler riders made up 44.8% of deaths and pedestrians 20.4%. [1]
Is crime in India rising or falling?
Registered crime fell in 2024. NCRB's Crime in India 2024 recorded 58.85 lakh cognisable crimes, down about 6% from 62.41 lakh in 2023, and a crime rate of 418.9 per lakh people, the lowest since 2019. Cyber crime, crimes against children and crimes against senior citizens rose. [2]
How many prisoners in India are undertrials?
73.5% of about 5.3 lakh prisoners on 31 December 2023 were undertrials, according to NCRB's Prison Statistics India 2023. Prisons were at 120.8% of capacity. [3]
Does India have enough police?
India has about 120 police personnel per lakh people against a suggested standard of 222, with 28% of officer posts and 21% of constable posts vacant and women making up 12% of the force, according to the India Justice Report 2025, which draws on Bureau of Police Research and Development data for 2023. [4]
Why are road deaths part of Safety and justice?
Because they are the largest preventable loss of life that governance can directly reduce, through speed enforcement, road design, vehicle standards and emergency care. The second-edition framework added safety on roads and railways to this sub-pillar for that reason.
Sources
- Ministry of Road Transport and Highways, "Road Accidents in India 2023", August 2025; figures as reported by Business Standard, 28 August 2025. Report page: morth.nic.in. https://www.business-standard.com/india-news/india-road-accidents-deaths-injuries-report-road-highway-ministry-nitin-gadkari-125082801527_1.html
- National Crime Records Bureau, "Crime in India 2024", 2026; headline figures as summarised by Drishti IAS, 9 May 2026. Report volumes: ncrb.gov.in/crime-in-india.html. https://www.ncrb.gov.in/crime-in-india.html
- National Crime Records Bureau, "Prison Statistics India 2023"; figures as summarised by Dataful, 27 February 2026. Report: ncrb.gov.in/prison-statistics-india.html. https://insights.dataful.in/articles/indias-prisons-remain-overcrowded-as-undertrial-share-stays-high
- Tata Trusts and partners, "India Justice Report 2025", national press release, 15 April 2025, citing Bureau of Police Research and Development, Data on Police Organisations 2023. https://indiajusticereport.org/files/English_National%20Press%20Release_India%20Justice%20Report%202025.docx.pdf
- Ministry of Law and Justice, written reply in the Rajya Sabha citing the National Judicial Data Grid, July 2026, as reported by Telangana Today, 23 July 2026. https://telanganatoday.com/more-than-5-64-crore-cases-pending-across-indian-courts-rs
47 BH cites every figure so that it can be checked. If you find an error, it will be corrected openly and the date below will change.