(The Gist of PIB) National Mission for Safety of Women [JANUARY-2020]

National Mission for Safety of Women

To bring out more stringent provisions and expeditious trial and disposal of such cases, the Union of India enacted the Criminal Law (Amendment) Act, 2018.

They have taken up work of setting up Fast Track Special Courts (FTSCs) as a part of the National Mission for Safety of Women (NMSW). Accordingly, the Central Government has started a Scheme for setting up of 1023 FTSCs across the country based on the pendency of subject cases obtained from various High Courts (1,66,882 numbers as on 31.03.2018) for time bound trial and disposal of pending cases related to rape and POCSO Act.
Further, in pursuance to the direction of Supreme Court of India in Suo Motu Writ Petition (Criminal) No.01/2019 dated 25.07.2019, out of 1023 FTSCs, 389 Courts have been proposed to be set up exclusively for POCSO Act related cases in Districts where pendency of such cases is more than 100.
The Scheme was circulated to all concerned State Governments/ Union Territories Administrations in September 2019. Efforts are constantly being made to obtain consent/willingness of remaining States/UTs.
The Department of Justice in the Government of India is constantly endeavoring to extend requisite assistance to the High Courts and State Governments in setting up these Courts for prompt trial and disposal of cases to ensure a safe and worth living environment especially to women and children in totality.
216 numbers of POCSO courts have already been operationalized in 12 States under the scheme.