Poor infra, staff shortages: Here's what is slowing down fast-track courts

Fast track courts (FTCs) were first recommended by the Eleventh Finance Commission in 2000 "to substantially bring down, if not eliminate, pendency in the district and subordinate courts"

Swift justice in fast-track courts, established in the early 2000s to reduce the time it takes to decide cases, is still elusive: Nearly 81% of the 26,965 cases completed by fast-track courts in 2019 took anywhere between one and 10 years for the trial to be completed, according to National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB) data.

Further, 69% of the 17,155 cases disposed of by the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) courts in 2019 took between one and 10 years, the data show. This is despite the fact that the POCSO Act 2012 specifies that the special courts must complete