New Indian Express: Rajlakshmi Sampath: Monday, December 08, 2025.
An official from the Social Welfare department attributed the lack of responses to the format in which information was sought. Police officials were not available for comment.
The India Justice Report (IJR), released recently with a focus on juvenile justice and children in conflict with the law, has ranked Tamil Nadu among the least transparent states.
The IJR, a quantitative index assessing the capacity of justice systems across states and produced collaboratively since 2019 with organisations including the Tata Institute of Social Sciences, found that Tamil Nadu was among five states that did not respond to any queries sent primarily under the Right to Information (RTI) Act. The other states are Jharkhand, Manipur, Tripura and Uttar Pradesh.
As a result, the report was unable to assess Tamil Nadu on most indices, apart from a few basic parameters, such as the presence of Juvenile Justice Boards (JJBs), which could be verified from secondary sources. The report noted that the state “shared almost nothing.” Police headquarters did not provide information on Special Juvenile Police Units (SJPUs), while the State Child Protection Society, responsible for maintaining records on Observation Homes, Special Homes and Places of Safety, failed to furnish details on capacity, staffing or inspections.
The Social Welfare department allegedly transferred RTI applications to districts, which only provided partial responses. TN also gave “no information” on allocations or utilisation of the Juvenile Justice Fund for several years. An official from the Social Welfare department attributed the lack of responses to the format in which information was sought. Police officials were not available for comment.
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