IRMA appeals for establishment of more FTSCs for swift justice
Source: The Sangai Express

Senapati, October 24 2024: The Integrated Rural Management Association (IRMA) has made an appeal to the State Government to establish more Fast Track Special Courts (FTSCs) to deliver speedy justice in POCSO and sexual abuse cases.

A press release issued by IRMA has stated that India Child Protection's report 'Fast Tracking Justice: Role of Fast Track Special Courts in Reducing Case Backlogs' shows that FTSCs are much more efficient than other Courts in rape and POCSO cases.

Citing the report and its findings, T Lamjaneng Haokip, Director, IRMA has stated that the quest of victims and their families for justice feels neverending as the trauma of the trial and the long wait for justice sometimes "surpasses the crime itself' .

Thus, he urged the Government to make all the FTSCs earmarked for the State operational and establish new ones.

The press note delved deep into the findings of the report which highlights that while the disposal rate of rape and POCSO cases across all Courts in the country was 10% in 2022, FTSCs showed much higher efficiency at 83%, improving further to 94% in 2023 .

Emphasizing the urgency of making FTSCs central to securing justice for victims, noted child rights activist and Child Marriage Free India (CMFI) founder Bhuwan Ribhu echoed similar sentiment of setting up 1,000 new FTSCs and further said that it is 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.

It is worth noting that India Child Protection and IRMA are partners of the CMFI.

Additionally, the report warned 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 recommended immediately making all 1,023 FTSCs functional and setting up of 1,000 more FTSCs nationwide to address the existing backlog of rape and POCSO cases in the country.

Failing this, the country would never get rid of the piling backlog, the report noted.

It has further suggested that the unutilized amount of Rs 1,700 crore in Nirbhaya Fund would be sufficient for the operation of these additional Courts for the next two years.

The report also demonstrated how FTSCs 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.

As per the report, to clear the backlog, the unutilized sum from Nirbhaya Fund should be used 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 was launched at a 3-day workshop in New Delhi recently and 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.

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