22nd July, 2003
Ministry of Law & Justice  


PRIORITY FOR CASES OF SENIOR CITIZENS AND WOMEN IN FAST TRACK COURTS


The Department of Justice has adopted the strategy of earmarking separate courts to deal with cases involving senior citizens, who are above 60 years of age, and with those concerning abuse of women. The new measure is to ensure that in the order of disposal, due priority is given to more vulnerable segments of the population.

The Union Minister of Law & Justice, Shri Arun Jaitley, has addressed letters to Chief Ministers of all States and Chief Justices of all High Courts to make immediate administrative arrangements to provide the required relief to the senior citizens as well as women victims of sexual abuse and cruelty in marriage. Since the Government has set up a large number of Fast Track Courts at the district level, and more are in the process of being established, the Minister has urged that wherever there are more than one Fast Track Court in a district, one of them may be earmarked to deal exclusively with cases involving senior citizens as well as with those of sexual abuse and cruelty in marriage relating to women.

While laying down an exclusive Fast Track Courts for senior citizens, the Minister has urged that all sessions cases and all civil matters involving property, inheritance, recovery of money, service matters and pension, as well as rent and tenancy matters involving senior citizens, who are above 60 years of age, and pending with the District Judge may be transferred to the Fast Track Courts earmarked for senior citizens. While justifying similar separate and exclusive Fast Track Courts for women victims of sexual offences, the Minister has stated that the very process of their trial, involving physical and oral examination of the accused, causes great pain and embarrassment to the women concerned.

The Union Government has accorded high priority to earmarking of Courts for cases relating to senior citizens and abuse of women. The Chief Ministers have, therefore, been requested to draw an action plan in consultation with the High Courts so that this essential judicial reform is achieved at the earliest.

One of the major concerns of the Department of Justice is faster disposal of cases. It has taken measures to revamp procedures and upgrade judicial infrastructure with the sole objective of facilitating people’s access to justice and reduction in disposal time. The Department has been implementing the scheme of Fast Track Courts since the year 2001 for expeditious disposal of long pending sessions cases throughout the country. So far 1334 district level courts have been notified for this purpose which have disposed off 1.60 lakh cases.