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International News

Not Enough Courts To Handle Rape Cases

January 01, 2013 posted by Steve Brownstein

With around 1,000 cases of rape pending in the trial courts, the plan to set up five fast-track courts to ensure speedy trials in cases of sexual offences against women will be of little help.

It is not the matter of absence of special courts in the capital to try the cases of sexual offence against women, it is the way such cases are dealt with that leads to a mounting backlog. Also, every district in the capital has varying figures of the pending rape cases, which burdens some courts more than others.

Even as the Delhi high court has asked courts to have day-to-day hearings in the rape cases, it won't be possible for the courts to do the same considering the fact that each court will have at least a backlog of around 200 cases, which needs to be taken care of.

While the Delhi high court is still in the process of devising a way of distribution of the pending rape cases in each court, the better way to ensure speedy justice is to avoid the procedural delay. Though the Supreme Court has time and again asked the sub-ordinate courts to fast-track the proceedings in cases of sexual offences against women, the guidelines are not followed by all the trial courts. The delay is usually attributed to various reasons — delay in getting the DNA report or other FSL reports, adjournments sought by the counsel for the accused, etc. There are express guidelines by the Supreme Court and the high court, which give the powers to the judges to be an "active participant" in the proceedings.

In 2009, while dealing with a rape case, the Delhi HC had re-iterated the apex court's instructions. "The courts have to take a participatory role in the trial and not act as mere tape recorders to record whatever is being stated by the witnesses. The judge has to monitor the proceedings in aid of justice in a manner that something, which is not relevant, is not unnecessarily brought into record," Justice Geeta Mittal had said.

For a speedy trial, the courts have been asked to record the statement of the victim "promptly and at the earliest". In case of any adjournments, the reason needs to be recorded in writing. Once the chargesheet is filed before the magistrate, the file should reach the sessions court for trial within 15 days.