SC Directs Centre To Set Up Special Court In Each District Where Over 100 POCSO Cases Are Pending

A Supreme Court bench led by Chief Justice of India (CJI) Ranjan Gogoi has directed that in each district in the country where there were more than 100 sexual assault/abuse cases under Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act still awaiting trial, a special court be established to clear the backlog, reports The Hindu.

The creation of these special courts will be done under a central government scheme, with all funding being provided from New Delhi. The bench gave a clear deadline of 60 days for its order to be implemented, with Solicitor General Tushar Mehta required to submit a progress report in four weeks times.

The matter was initiated as a suo moto public interest litigation (PIL) registered by the apex court, which expressed alarm over the rapid spike in cases of child sexual abuse and the inordinate delays in getting justice due to an ill-equipped judiciary.

“We are concerned about States where there is hardly any infrastructure; where the Magistrate has hardly any room; where he or she sits in a small four-by-four enclosure. These presiding officers lack basic infrastructure yet are snowed under by cases under new laws... New law means new responsibility and additional burden for them...These are the real issues which affect the judiciary and not the Supreme Court Collegium,” Chief Justice Gogoi noted.