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It has been almost 20 years since the idea of fast-track courts for quick disposal of certain cases was initiated. The proposal was welcomed in judicial quarters as well as by the people at large. The creation of a new set of courts for specified cases was not meant to be a remedy for the huge pendency in different courts in India, which is believed to be three crore cases. Rather, fast-track courts were to deal with criminal cases involving major offences against women or those belonging to the underprivileged class such as sexual assault and murder. These offences create anger and insecurity in the general public. When cases arising out of such heinous or ghastly offences take years to reach a final verdict, most of the effectiveness of deterrent punishment is lost. Faith in the State in general and judiciary in particular gets weakened.

When an accused guilty of committing a grave offence is punished, it is not only for the satisfaction of the victim or her family. It also reassures society that the law is effectively implemented. A verdict of guilty after the passage of years loses its incisiveness and importance. Delay in investigation, charge sheet filing, hearings and final judgment inflicts irreparable damage on the system. If the case is heard after two/ three years and witnesses live in the same town or locality, there is every likelihood of them being pressured by the accused. This leads to witnesses becoming hostile and the accused getting the benefit of it. The only exception, perhaps, is near relatives or witnesses having strong inimical relations with the accused. It is vital and necessary for the investigation to be completed within the shortest possible time and for the case to be listed for hearing. But nowadays, such things happen in Perry Mason novels only. In an exceptional departure, I remember a case where a court understood the difficulty of a foreign tourist who was raped in India and directed that the case be disposed of within a short time. It was disposed of in a month.

As per the recommendations of the 14th Finance Commission, the centre had proposed setting up 1,800 fast-track courts. However, it is believed that 60 percent of proposed fast-track courts are yet to be set up and many states and Union Territories don'’t have even a single fast-track court.

If the scheme of fast-track courts is properly implemented, it will help restore people'’s faith in the criminal justice system. However, 2018 data of the National Crime Records Bureau tells a different story.

In 2018, 28,000 cases were disposed of in fast-track courts in India. Out of these, only 22 percent were disposed of in less than a year, 42 percent took more than three years and 17 percent more than five years. This can hardly be expected from fast-track courts.

Major criminal cases lead to...

A) Anger and insecurity among people

B) Restoration of faith in courts

C) Demand for encounter

D) Demand for capital punishment