1,023 fast-track courts financially supported under Nirbhaya Fund: Irani

A total of 1,023 fast-track courts are financially supported under the Nirbhaya Fund to provide assistance to victims of sexual abuse, Union Minister Smriti Irani said in Rajya Sabha on Thursday, asserting that the government is serious towards combating violence against women and children.

She said state governments were also taking all kinds of steps to ensure safety and security of women.

There are over 1,37,000 CCTV cameras operational in Chennai, the women and child development minister said, adding that the Centre periodically takes up the issues with the states.

She said the Government of India has legislated various child centric Acts such as the Commissions for Protection of Child Rights Act (CPCR) 2005, Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act, 2012 and the Juvenile Justice (Care and Protection of Children) Act, 2015 (JJ Act) for protection and promotion of child rights.

The government reviewed the POCSO Act, 2012 in 2019 in the light of the rise of incidences of child sexual abuse in the country and accordingly, the POCSO Act, 2012 was amended in 2019 in order to make it more effective in dealing with cases of child sex abuse, Irani said.

It addressed the need for stringent measures to deter child sex abuse in the country on one hand and the menace of relatively new kind of crimes on the other, she added.