NEW DELHI: Crimes against women are on the rise, and so is the pendency of such cases in the subordinate and high courts across the country.
In the last three years, number of cases relating to sexual harassment, kidnapping and abduction including rape has gone up from 2.28 lakh to 3.09 lakh. Over 31,000 rape cases are pending in high courts alone.
Concerned at increasing pendency of cases of crime against women and children, the law ministry has written to the state governments and the chief justices of HCs to constitute fast track courts for speedy trial of such cases. The conviction rate in these cases, however, came down from 27% to 22% between 2011 and 2013.
After the December 2012 Delhi rape case, the government had asked the state governments to allocate additional funds for setting up of fast track courts (FTCs) for trials related to crime against women and children.
This has resulted in at least 318 FTCs being set up by various HCs, designating them exclusively for trials of cases related to crime against women. Madhya Pradesh has set up highest FTCs for women and children (50), followed by West Bengal (48) and Tamil Nadu (32).
There are 310 cases of sexual harassment pending in the Supreme Court while it has disposed of 1,455 since 2009. In the HCs, the pendency of rape cases is as high as 31,386 while 15,453 have been disposed of in the last three years.
In response to a Parliament question, law minister Sadananda Gowda said attention of the chief justices of HCs has been drawn to the use of provisions under Sections 157, 309 & 327 of the CrPC with a view to examination of witnesses on a day-to-day basis, keeping adjournment at a bare minimum and expediting trial of cases involving heinous crimes such as rape.
“They were requested to impress upon the district judges to scrupulously adhere to these provisions in trial of cases involving heinous crimes such as rape and to conduct trials without adjournment as far as possible,” he said in a written response.
Section 357A of the Criminal Procedure provides for payment of compensation to the victims of crime, quantum of which is to be determined by the state legal services authority or district legal services authorities. They are empowered to pass interim order and to provide immediate relief in appropriate cases. For this, the victim may also approach para legal volunteers in the legal services authorities with a simple application.
TOI | Dec 17, 2014
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