Team Goemkarponn
Panaji: Despite a sharp fall in Goa’s position in the India Justice Report (IJR) 2025 — from a No.1 rank among small states in 2019 to the bottom rung in 2025 — the state government has dismissed the report, stating it is not an “authentic government document.” Chief Minister Pramod Sawant, who also holds the Home portfolio, said the findings compiled by Tata Trusts and supported by leading policy institutions “do not arise” for review.
The issue was raised through an unstarred LAQ by MLA Viresh Borkar, who asked whether any review was conducted into the decline in Goa’s justice delivery capacity, including police, judiciary, legal aid and prisons. The CM, in his reply, did not acknowledge the report’s findings, but provided crime data from 2019 to June 2025, showing fluctuations with no consistent trend of increase.
The figures show crime peaked in 2020 (3,392 cases) and 2022 (2,709 cases), with notable drops in 2021 and 2023. From Jan–June 2025, 1,096 crimes were recorded.
To address law and order concerns, the CM listed several ongoing measures: intensified patrolling, regular surveillance of known offenders, tenant and servant verification on the ICJS portal, surprise vehicle checks, and public awareness campaigns.
In terms of reform, Sawant highlighted Goa Police’s tech-forward approach. The state has set up India’s first in-house AI-ML lab for crime detection and launched tools like Deep Trace and Radical Content Analyzer. A cloud-based cybercrime call centre is also in the pipeline, which he said would be the first of its kind in the country.
Further, police officers are undergoing training via the iGOT Karmayogi platform, while digital forensics software and e-investigation tools like CCTNS and e-Sakshya are being used to strengthen charge-sheeting and prosecution.
While reforms are being introduced, the government has not committed to formally review or address the fall in the national justice rankings.
