The death of the Sakinaka rape victim on Saturday is a stark reminder of increasing crime against women in the city. Following her death, Maharashtra Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray promptly announced that the trial against the accused in the gruesome rape and murder case will be conducted in a fast track court.
However, one cannot overlook the fact that the posts of various fast track courts and special courts to try offences against women and cases under the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act are vacant.
In order to bridge this gap, the Bombay High Court (HC) has initiated the process of filling up of vacant posts of 23 fast track special courts and eight dedicated POCSO courts for expeditious trial and disposal of cases of rape, atrocities against women and cases under the POCSO Act.
According to data available on the National Judicial Data Grid, there are 2,98,79,355 total criminal cases pending in Maharashtra. Of these, 1,63,726 cases pertain to women.
The HC will be appointing judges for the fast track courts at Akola (2), Amravati (3), Buldhana (3), Jalgaon (2) and one each at Beed, Chandrapur, Gadchiroli, Gondia, Kolhapur, Nanded, Nandurbar, Nashik, Parbhani, Satara, Solapur, Washim and Yavatmal.
Apart from Mumbai, vacant posts for special courts to try cases under the POCSO Act have to be filled at Dhule, Jalgaon, Bhandara, Buldhana, Washim, Ahmednagar and Beed.
Justice SS Shinde, third senior-most judge of the HC, from September 10, started interviewing retired judicial officials from the cadre of district and additional sessions judge who retired between the period August 2017 to July 2021 on superannuation. These retired judicial officials should not have any post-retirement assignments.
The HC has also clarified that those judicial officials who were compulsorily retired or discharged/ dismissed from their duties will not be appointed on these vacant posts.
However, these appointments will be for a period of one year.
Why can’t we have permanent fast track courts?
The mute question remains as to why can’t there be permanent fast track courts and special POCSO courts?
These schemes, of setting up of fast track courts and special courts under POCSO, are financed by the central government. The state government does not even have sufficient funds, space and support staff for such special courts.
“Also, we just do not have sufficient qualified judges to man these special courts,” said senior advocate Uday Warunjikar.
For every one judge appointed, nearly 10 support staff has to be appointed, including shirestedar (person who escorts judges in the courtrooms) and stenographers.
“Sensitive cases are transferred to fast track courts and they are disposed off in a time-bound manner. But what about the non-fast track cases? These drag on for years. There needs to be a balance,” said Warunjikar adding that the entire system needs to be overhauled after looking at the situation and taking necessary steps.
Announcement for additional fast track courts was made in 2020
Way back in 2020, the Maharashtra government had announced that it will set up 138 fast-track courts across the state under the centrally sponsored national mission for the safety of women, for time-bound disposal of cases pertaining to crimes against women and children. Out of the 138 courts, 108 will deal with cases of atrocities against women, while the remaining 30 courts will deal with cases registered under POCSO Act.
The central government scheme proposed that it would bear 60 per cent of the expenditure whereas the state government would bear 40 per cent of the costs of setting up of the fast track courts and POCSO courts.
The central and state governments had moved into action following a Supreme Court order in June 2019 which issued directions setting up of additional fast track courts and POCSO courts after observing that there was a prolonged delay in deciding such cases.
Data as per National Judicial Data Grid
India
Total pending cases – 4,05,84,443
Cases pertaining to Women – 36,01,115
Maharashtra
Total Pending Cases – 47,81,276
Total pending criminal cases - 33,41,137
Cases pertaining to Woman – 3,89,138
Mumbai City Civil and Sessions Court
Total Pending Cases – 1,32,733
Cases pertaining to Woman 4,335
Magistrates courts in Mumbai
Total Pending Cases – 5,18,646
Cases pertaining to women – 8,018
The Department of Justice, Central Government had formulated a “Scheme on fast track special courts for expeditious disposal of cases of rape and POCSO Act, 2019”. According to the report, as on June 31, 2019 -Maharashtra had 19,968 cases pending under the POCSO Act
