For the speedy disposal of cases of crimes against women, the state government took the decision to set up Special Courts. 25 Fast Track Courts are being proposed for disposal of criminal cases relating to the atrocities on women and mentally handicapped girls. The Maharashtra Assembly unanimously passed a bill that aims to establish special courts to ensure speedy trial of offences against women and children under the Shakti Act. The much needed proposal got the nod of the legislature however, it gathered a lot of dust in the Law and Judiciary department in Mantralaya before it could take off.
The government took this decision with an aim to conduct trials without delay in cases of certain offences against women and children. As per the decision, exclusive special courts were to be set up. Provisions for appointing a special public prosecutor for conducting trials and forming special police teams to probe the offences were also made. Presently, courts at Ahmednagar, Akola, Amaravati, Aurangabad, Buldhana, Beed, Jalgaon, Nagpur, Yawatmal, Thane, Pune & Kolhapur are in operation along with special court for Cases of Immoral trafficking at Mumbai. Prior to this the Shakti Criminal Laws (Maharashtra Amendment) Bill, which provides for stricter punishment, including death penalty, for crimes against women, was passed unanimously by both the Houses of the legislature.
Everything went well at the initial state. The government announced that it will provide all required assistance for the speedy trial of cases of crime against women and children under the Shakti Act.
The government had also announced that as per the bill, exclusive special courts can be set up for hearing the cases or existing courts can be given that rank depending upon the situation. The government made all the arrangements to make provisions and infrastructure available. At the beginning 25 Fast Track Courts were being proposed for disposal of criminal cases relating to the atrocities on women and mentally handicapped girls. The proposal went through various administrative hurdles and after this the journey started but very slow.
Interestingly, with the formation of these new exclusive special courts, the speed of the trial remained the same. As per the survey, fast-track courts in Delhi dispose of a case in 122 days on an average, while a regular court takes 133 days. No different story in Mumbai.
So the question remains that why are fast-track courts failing to fulfil their purpose? Experts say fast-track courts operate no differently than regular courts. For one, they have similarly heavy caseloads.
A fast track court is set up for a category of disputes. These categories themselves have a large chunk of cases. So it is just like any other court hall in the district judiciary -- you have the court hall under individual judges who have anywhere between 50 to 100 cases listed per day.
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