ICWO - Indian Community Welfare Organisation Appeals for More Fast Track Courts for Speedy Justice for Rape Victims

 

Report ‘Fast Tracking Justice: Role of Fast Track Special Courts in Reducing Case Backlogs’ shows Fast

Track Courts are much more efficient than other courts in rape and POCSO cases.

·         The Report recommends making all FTSCs functional and adding 1000 more to the list, failing which the country would never get rid of the piling backlog

·         Disposal rate of such cases across all courts was 10%, while it was 83% in FTSCs across India in 2022.

·         One rape or POCSO case per 3 minutes – this is the required disposal rate to clear the backlog in one year.

·        In the wake of the findings of a recent report by India Child Protection suggesting that Fast Track Special Courts (FTSCs) are the only way for rape and sexual abuse survivors to seek justice, ICWO - Indian Community Welfare Organisationhas appealed to the state government to ensure that more FTSCs are established for the speedy delivery of justice. The report, ‘Fast Tracking Justice: Role of Fast Track Special Courts in Reducing Case Backlogs’, highlights that while the disposal rate of rape and POCSO cases across all courts in the country was a mere 10% in 2022, FTSCs showed much higher efficiency at 83%, improving further to 94% in 2023. The report recommends setting up 1000 more FTSCs for clearing the backlog and notes that the unutilized amount in Nirbhaya Fund would be sufficient for the operation of these additional courts for the next two years.The report warns that without these additional FTSCs, the country may never be able to clear its backlog of pending rape and POCSO cases.The report was launched at a three-day workshop in New Delhi recently.

Emphasizing the urgency of making FTSCs central to securing justice for victims, noted Child Rights activist and Child Marriage Free India founder Bhuwan Ribhustated, "India is reaching the tipping point in addressing long-overdue justice in rape and child sexual abuse cases. This is the critical moment when we must invest in the safety and security of our women and children, ensuring their right to justice by clearing all pending cases within the next three years by creating 1,000 new FTSCs. It's also the time to provide rehabilitation and compensation for victims and promote a legal deterrent in society by adopting time-bound policies for the disposal of cases and appeals across all courts, including the High Courts and the Supreme Court, and ensuring accountability throughout the justice delivery process."Child Marriage Free India (CMFI) is a nationwide campaign comprising over 200 NGOs in 400+ districts against child marriage, and India Child Protection and ICWO - Indian Community Welfare Organisationare partners of the CMFI.

In addition to recommending that all earmarked FTSCs become functional, the report suggests establishing 1,000 more FTSCs to address the existing backlog of rape and POCSO cases in the country. It warns that, given the current disposal rate, the country would need to clear at least one rape or POCSO case every three minutes to eliminate the backlog by December 2023, assuming no new cases are added.

The report warns that India would need approximately three years to clear the existing backlog of 202,175 rape and POCSO cases in FTSCs if no new cases are added. It recommends immediately making all 1,023 FTSCs functional and setting up 1,000 more FTSCs nationwide.

Citing the report and its findings, A.J.Hariharan, ICWO- Indian Community Welfare Organisation said, “While we are working tirelessly to ensure that victims and their families seek justice instead of remaining silent, the hard truth is that their quest for justice often feels never-ending. The trauma of the trial and the long wait for justice sometimes surpasses the crime itself. This report clearly shows that with more Fast Track courts, our children and their families will achieve justice sooner. We urge the government to make all the FTSCs earmarked for our state operational and establish new ones. Justice delayed is justice denied, and this cycle of waiting must end."

The report demonstrates how Fast Track Special Courts can accelerate the clearing of the backlog. Since the FTSC scheme was introduced, a total of 214,463 out of 416,638 cases have been resolved. Maharashtra (80%) and Punjab (71%) have shown high rates of case disposal, while West Bengal has recorded the lowest (2%) among all states and union territories. Notably, West Bengal has only made 3 out of 123 earmarked FTSCs functional so far.

To implement the Criminal Law (Amendment) Act, 2018, which mandates strict timelines for the trial of rape and POCSO cases, and to comply with Supreme Court directives, the government launched the FTSC Scheme in August 2019 for the expeditious disposal of such cases.

The report’s recommendations for clearing the backlog include utilizing the ₹1,700 crore from the unutilized Nirbhaya Fund for establishing and running additional FTSCs, specifying appeal and trial timelines to prevent prolonged battles in higher courts, and making real-time data on acquittal and conviction in rape and POCSO cases available nationwide. The status of case disposal should also be tracked on an FTSC dashboard so that victims and the state can challenge acquittal orders promptly.

The report used multiple secondary data sources for gathering relevant information, including Crime in India Reports published by the National Crime Records Bureau, various parliamentary questions and answers, and information published by the Press Information Bureau. The study also used case files from the Access to Justice for Children Programme (A2J) to understand the impact of delays in case trials on victims.