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.
