Fast track courts seem to doing nothing substantial when delivering judgments and more importantly doing it on time.

In 2012 the Karnataka government set up ten special fast track courts for trying cases of rape and sexual assault under Section 376 of the IPC. In 2015, Karnataka was allotted a whopping amount of Rs. 218.72 crores as part of the Government of India’s plan to set up 1800 fast track courts (FTC) across the country. The primary intent behind setting up these FTCs was to ensure a speedier sentence and justice for crimes against women and children especially around rape and sexual harassment as well as under Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act. However, in Karnataka many of the temporary courts were converted to fast track courts but have not really helped fast track cases. According to the data pointers in the Supreme Court’s ‘Court News’ between 2010 and 2017, the number of working judges increased between 2012 and 2017 but pending cases did not reduce.

Read the full story that first appeared in Citizen Matters on Jan 16, 2020 here: