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

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.

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