Ministry of Law and Justice

755 Fast Track Special Courts including 410 exclusive POCSO Courts are functional in 30 States/UTs across the country

Posted On: 25 JUL 2024 1:11PM by PIB Delhi

Pursuant to the Criminal Law Amendment Act, 2018, the Central Government has been implementing a Centrally Sponsored Scheme for setting up of Fast Track Special Courts (FTSCs), including exclusive POCSO Courts since October, 2019 for expeditious trial and disposal of pending cases pertaining to Rape and Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act, in a time-bound manner.

The Scheme was initially implemented for one year, which was extended up to March, 2023.  The Scheme has now been extended till 31.03.2026, at an outlay of Rs. 1952.23 cr. with Rs. 1207.24 cr. as Central Share to be incurred from Nirbhaya Fund. The funds are released on CSS pattern (60:40, 90:10) to cover the salaries of 1 Judicial Officer along with 7 support Staff and a Flexi Grant for meeting the day-to-day expenses.

As per the information received from the High Courts up to May, 2024, 755 FTSCs including 410 exclusive POCSO (e-POCSO) Courts are functional in 30 States/UTs across the country, which have disposed of over 2,53,000 cases. The State-wise details of number of functional Fast Track Special Courts along with the number of cases disposed of as on 31.05.2024 is placed at Annexure.

The establishment of Fast Track Special Courts demonstrates the unwavering commitment of the Government towards women security, combating sexual and gender-based violence, reducing the backlog of pending cases related to Rape & POCSO Act, and providing enhanced access to justice for survivors of sexual crimes. With professional and experienced judges and support staff specialized in handling sensitive sexual offense cases, these courts ensure consistent and expert-guided legal proceedings offering victims of sexual offences swift resolution in mitigating the trauma and distress, and enabling them to move forward. Fast Track Special Courts have notably adopted the approach of setting up Vulnerable Witness Deposition Centers within the courts to facilitate the victims and to make the courts into Child-Friendly Courts for providing crucial support for a compassionate legal system.

State/UT-wise details of number of functional Fast Track Special Courts along with the number of cases disposed as of May, 2024

S.NO.

State/UT

Functional Courts

Cumulative Disposal since the inception of the Scheme

 

FTSCs including exclusive POCSO

exclusive POCSO

FTSCs

exclusive POCSO

Total

 
 

1

Andhra Pradesh

16

16

0

4899

4899

 

2

Assam

17

17

0

5893

5893

 

3

Bihar

46

46

0

11798

11798

 

4

Chandigarh

1

0

265

0

265

 

5

Chhattisgarh

15

11

924

4044

4968

 

6

Delhi

16

11

555

1262

1817

 

7

Goa

1

0

32

34

66

 

8

Gujarat

35

24

2263

9793

12056

 

9

Haryana

16

12

1572

4675

6247

 

10

Himachal Pradesh

6

3

416

1126

1542

 

11

J&K

4

2

91

101

192

 

12

Jharkhand

22

16

2279

4537

6816

 

13

Karnataka

31

17

3740

6657

10397

 

14

Kerala

55

14

13530

6123

19653

 

15

Madhya Pradesh

67

57

3894

22456

26350

 

16

Maharashtra

14

7

7258

11530

18788

 

17

Manipur

2

0

146

0

146

 

18

Meghalaya

5

5

0

462

462

 

19

Mizoram

3

1

148

55

203

 

20

Nagaland

1

0

61

3

64

 

21

Odisha

44

23

4992

9521

14513

 

22

Puducherry*

1

1

0

83

83

 

23

Punjab

12

3

2055

2061

4116

 

24

Rajasthan

45

30

4502

10138

14640

 

25

Tamil Nadu

14

14

0

7225

7225

 

26

Telangana

36

0

5993

2731

8724

 

27

Tripura

3

1

203

186

389

 

28

Uttarakhand

4

0

1614

0

1614

 

29

Uttar Pradesh

218

74

34091

34998

69089

 

30

West Bengal

5

5

0

106

106

 

 

TOTAL

755

410

90624

162497

253121

 

 

*Puducherry specially requested to join the Scheme and has since operationalized one exclusive POCSO Court in May 2023.

This information was given by the MINISTER OF STATE (INDEPENDENT CHARGE) OF THE MINISTRY OF LAW AND JUSTICE; AND MINISTER OF STATE IN THE MINISTRY OF PARLIAMENTARY AFFAIRS, SHRI ARJUN RAM MEGHWAL in a written reply in the Rajya Sabha today.

 

*****

SB/DP



(Release ID: 2036701) Visitor Counter : 369


Read this release in: Urdu , Hindi , Tamil