Question : Special Court to try Offences against Women

(a) the details of number of new special courts set up across the country to try sexual offences against women and children so far;
(b) the details of number of cases registered with the courts, State-wise;
(c) whether Government is considering to set up 1070 Special Courts all over the country for sexual offences against women and children and if so, the details thereof;
(d) whether the Government is planning to create awareness and assistance programmmes for women and children to encourage them to report the cases and if so, the details thereof; and
(e) whether Government is considering to set up more courts to deal with other issues to reduce the pending cases in various courts and if so, the details thereof?

ANSWER
MINISTER OF LAW & JUSTICE, COMMUNICATIONS, ELECTRONICS AND INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY
(SHRI RAVI SHANKAR PRASAD)

(a) to (c): In furtherance to the Criminal Law (Amendment) Act, 2018, Government has finalized a Scheme for setting up of a total of 1023 Fast Track Special Courts (FTSCs) across the country for expeditious trial and disposal of pending cases related to rape and Prevention of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act, 2012, in a time-bound manner under Centrally Sponsored Scheme. So far, after receipt of consent from 27 States/UTs, central share of funds amounting to Rs.99.43 Crore has been released in Financial Year 2019-20 for setting up of 649 numbers of FTSCs.
As per information received from High Courts, the number of functional Fast Track Special Courts (FTSCs) upto January, 2020 is 195 as given at Annexure-I. The details of cases related to rape and POCSO Act, pending upto 31st December, 2019, States/UTs wise, is given at Annexure-II.

(d): Government has operationalized Emergency Response Support System (ERSS), a pan-India, single, internationally recognized number, i.e. 112 based system for various emergencies, with computer aided dispatch of field resources to the location of distress, in 28 States/ UTs. Ministry of Home Affairs has undertaken citizen awareness campaigns on 112, including 112 India mobile app, in the print, electronic and digital media.
(e): The 14th Finance Commission has endorsed the proposal of Union of India for setting up of 1800 Fast Track Courts (FTCs) during 2015-20 for dealing with specified nature cases viz cases pertaining to cases of heinous nature, women, children, senior citizen and other vulnerable sections of society and civil cases of property disputes pending for more than five years. The State Governments have been urged to utilize enhanced fiscal space provided through tax devolution (32% to 42%) for the same. There are 828 such FTCs functioning in the country as on 31-12-2019 as per information received from High Courts. 31-2

Annexure –I
Lok Sabha Unstarred Question No. 2180 for 04.03.2020
State wise details of No. of Fast Track Special Courts (FTSCs) functional & established for Women and Girl children under the Scheme of FTSCs (January, 2020)
States No. of FTSCs
Madhya Pradesh 56
Chhattisgarh 15
Delhi 16
Tripura 03
Jharkhand 22
Rajasthan 26
Telangana 09
Gujarat 34
Tamil Nadu 14
Total 195




ANNEXURE-II
Lok Sabha Unstarred Question No. 2180 for 04.03.2020
Status of cases related to rape and POCSO Act. (As on 31.12.2019)
1 Andhra Pradesh 3897
2 Assam 6227
3 Arunachal Pradesh 315
4 Mizoram 357
5 Nagaland 89
6 Maharashtra 21691
7 Goa 34
8 Daman & Diu 13
9 Dadar & Nagar Haveli 27
10 Chhattisgarh 4159
11 West Bengal 20511
12 Delhi 11418
13 Gujarat 8372
14 Haryana 3707
15 Punjab 1734
16 Chandigarh 113
17 Bihar 13924
18 Himachal Pradesh 1450
19 J&K 1388
20 Jharkhand 4630
21 Kerala 10958
22 Lakshadweep 15
23 Karnataka 6310
24 Madhya Pradesh 19981
25 Meghalaya 864
26 Odisha 9471
27 Rajasthan 11159
28 Sikkim 93
29 Tamil Nadu 5118
30 Tripura 601
31 Telangana 6925
32 Uttar Pradesh 66994
33 Uttarakhand 1456
Total 244001