Manipur absent in Justice Report
Source: The Sangai Express

Imphal, April 29 2025: Marred by violent conflict since May 3, 2023 and a dysfunctional State Human Rights Commission after its then Chairperson UB Saha retired, Manipur has been found nowhere in the ranking of States in the India Justice Report 2025 .

The India Justice Report (UR) is the only National ranking of States based on their performance in delivering justice.

It has placed Manipur under the "unranked States" and has no mention of the Manipur Human Rights Commission in a separate ranking for State Human Rights Commissions (SHRCs) of the Indian States.

The latest, UR 2025 was released by Justice Madan B Lokur, former Judge of the Supreme Court of India on April 15 at the India International Centre.

The report uses Government's own statistics to rank the capacity of the formal justice system operating in Indian States.

First published in 2019, the UR tracks improvements and persisting deficits in each State's structural and financial capacity to deliver justice based on quantitative measurements of budgets, human resources, infrastructure, workload, and diversity across police, judiciary, prisons, legal aid and Human Rights Commissions.

While the ongoing conflict since May 3, 2023 may have had an impact on the State's ranking, the absence of a functional and robust Manipur Human Rights Commission has certainly adversely affected the State's capacity to address human rights issues amid the conflict.

Karnataka tops the overall India Justice Report 2025 ranking of States-a position it has retained from the 2022 ranking.

Andhra Pradesh, Telangana and Kerala ranked 2nd, 3rd and 4th respectively.

Among seven small States (population upto 10 million), Sikkim ranks first retaining the top spot it secured in the 2022 ranking, followed by Himachal Pradesh and Arunachal Pradesh.

In the UR 2025, Manipur is placed under "Unranked States" along with Assam and Nagaland overall.

Notably, in the ranking of the State Human Rights Commissions (SHRCs), West Bengal tops the list, followed by Tripura, Karnataka and Odisha.

It has no mention of the MHRC in the ranking.

It may be noted that the Manipur Human Rights Commission, established in 1998, has been lying dormant and paralysed after the retirement of its Chairperson, Justice UB Saha on August 24, 2024 .

While no Chairperson has been appointed, the only Member of the Commission has not been given the charge of Acting Chairperson for it to become functional.

Without the appointment of a Chairperson or an Acting Chairperson, the Commission is unable to hear pending and mounting cases before it amid the Manipur conflict.

Meanwhile, in a separate development, the UN-linked Global Alliance of National Human Rights Institutions' (GANHRI) has recommended downgrading India's National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) from category 'A' to category 'B' .

This is the first time in its history that the NHRC's status has been recommended to be downgraded.

The Sub-Committee on Accreditation (SCA) created under GANHRI examined the renewal application of NHRC during its 45th Session in March 13-21 in Geneva.

The SCA, however, has noted that the NHRC will maintain "A" status until the SCA's 47th session slated for 2026 .

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