Justice delayed: Fast-track special courts still aren't fast enough

Many existing courts struggle with severe staffing shortages, procedural inefficiencies, and inadequate infrastructure

Fast-track special courts (FTSCs) were established to speed up trials in rape and child sexual-abuse cases. Yet, these very courts, meant to accelerate justice, are themselves moving at a slow pace, according to the data recently presented in the Lok Sabha by Union Law and Justice Minister Arjun Ram Meghwal. The numbers for Delhi are especially troubling: The place currently has 16 FTSCs, and of the 6,278 cases instituted since inception, only 2,718 were disposed of by June this year. Cases under the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (Pocso) Act take, on average, over 1,700 days (nearly five years)