SOTN: What India thinks of police and courts

The State of the Nation Study (SONS), January 2009 conducted by CSDS in collaboration with CNN-IBN checked the popular perception about police and judiciary in India and questions connected with it from a cross section of people.

Themes covered:

The survey covered the following things on Police and Judiciary:

Who

Did not require court intervention

82

Required court intervention & went to court

14

Required court intervention but did not go to court

4

Note: All figures in per cent.

Who went to court

For Civil case

42

As Witness in case

16

For Routine verification

15

Only Accompanied relative/friend

14

For Criminal case

13

Note: Response of those who required court’s help. All figures in per cent

Those who

Poor

Rich

Dalit

Upper Caste

Approached court for Civil Case

38

35

36

42

Approached court for criminal cases

15

12

13

14

Note: Response of those who required court’s help. All figures in per cent

Who felt satisfied with their experience with court in

Satisfied (All)

Dalits

Upper caste

Poor

Rich

Civil Case

68

65

72

68

66

Criminal case

58

56

56

58

65

Routine verification

55

56

61

70

61

Note: Response of those who went to court. All figures in per cent

Reasons…

Problem resolved by community

22

Court process lengthy

19

Court process expensive

16

Note: Response of those who did not go to court. All figures in per cent.

All

Among those who went to Court

Yes, certainly

35

44

Only if there is no other option

32

32

No

13

14

Not sure

20

10

Note: All figures in per cent.

Those who

Did not required police help

80

Needed police help & contacted police

17

Needed police help but did not contact the police

3

Note: Response of those who contacted police. All figures in per cent

People approached police …

As Victim

27

Accompanied relative/friend

24

For paper work

23

As Witness

13

As Accused

7

As Informant

6

Note: Response of those who contacted police. All figures in per cent

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Dalits

Upper caste

Poor

Rich

Interacted with police as victim

22

22

22

24

Interacted with police as accused

8

5

9

5

Interacted with police for paper work

15

25

20

24

Note: Response of those who contacted the police. All figures in per cent

Who felt satisfied with their experience with Police as

Satisfied (All)

Dalits

Upper caste

Poor

Rich

Victim

49

48

45

45

46

Accused

46

64

56

23

50

Paper work

68

78

63

63

77

Note: Response of those who contacted the police. All figures in per cent

Those who said…

Problem resolved by community

22

Police complicates the matter

19

Police is unfair

17

Note: Response of those who did not interact with police. All figures in per cent

All

Among those who had contacted the Police

Yes

56

65

No

23

22

Not sure

21

13

Note: All figures in per cent

Yes (All)

Opinion of Women

Police would treat men and women equally

36

34

Yes (All)

Opinion of Dalits

Police would treat dalits and Upper caste equally

33

32

Yes (All)

Opinion of Muslims

Police would treat person from majority and minority community equally

30

31

Yes (All)

Opinion of Poor

Police would treat rich and poor equally

32

29

Note: Rest Can’t Say/Don’t Know. All figures in per cent.