Bhubaneswar: With the ever rising rapes and citizens growing restless in the State, Odisha government has joined the Union Law Ministry's scheme to bring up 45 special fast track courts in the State.
However, the moot point is will the 45 Fast Track Special Courts (FTSCs) in Odisha do justice to the rape & POCSO Act victims? Are the FTSCs going to deliver zero pendency rate in the State.
Now, consider this. The pendency of rape & POCSO Act cases in Odisha stood at a massive 7,292. As per the Union Law Ministry Scheme, the FTSCs have been mandated to dispose 165 cases per year. Even if one assumes that 165 cases will be disposed every year in Odisha, the numbing fact is the whole backlog (7,292) of the pending cases will take 44-long years to see complete disposal.
Significantly, in the pendency of POCSO Act cases, Odisha stood fifth in the country with a total of 8.731 cases. And in the combined pendency (rape + POCSO), the State figured at eight in the country.
Under the special scheme of the Union Law Ministry, Odisha will see expenses to the tune of around Rs 33.75 crore for the 45 FTSCs in the current financial year 2019-20. And the State's share is estimated at Rs 13.5 crore for the year 2019-20.
It needs mentioning here is this special scheme of Union Law Ministry is for one year but will spread over to two financial years (2019-20 & 2020-21). And, significantly, the Ministry has targeted to dispose a total of 1.66 lakh rape & POCSO cases during the time period.
However, given the pendency load, the Union Law Ministry has clearly stated that the remaining cases shall be dealt with by the Fast Track Courts (FTCs) proposed to be set up under the 15th Finance Commission (2020-25) in states & UTs.
The big reminder here is Odisha displaying its Himalayan Apathy didn't avail Centre's Rs 145 crore allocation to Odisha for establishing 63 FTCs during the period of 2015-20, which was mandated by the Fourteenth Finance Commission. Odisha didn't heed to the need, only because the State has to allocate a share of Rs 58 crore.
The result: The functional 35 FTCs in the State till 2011 were abruptly closed, when a high of 5,700 crime against women cases were pending in the courts.
But the scenario is not so in the country. Till the end of year 2018, 699 FTCs were functioning in the country, though Odisha's share was nil.