Lucknow: Rattled by the unchecked cases of sexual attacks on women in Uttar Pradesh, Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath has decided to set up a record 218 special fast track courts to exclusively deal with rape cases. Of these courts, 74 will be dedicated solely to cases brought under the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act, while 144 courts will look into resolution of cases related to crimes against women. The State Cabinet on Monday (December 9) approved the creation of 218 posts of additional sessions judges, while other staff posts are likely to be created within a few days.
While cases of rape and child sexual abuse have been occurring routinely in this big and densely-populated state, the most recent case pertaining to the burning of a 23-year old rape survivor in Unnao last week which eventually claimed her life caused state-wide outrage, as it came within a few days of a similar incident in Hyderabad. While the Telangana Police had claimed to have shot dead the four alleged perpetrators of the Hyderabad incident in an early morning encounter, cases of women and minor girls being raped, or raped and killed, were reported from Auraiyya, Bijnore and Sitapur in Uttar Pradesh.
The Unnao rape victim was set on fire by five men on Thursday December 5 while she was on her way to Rae Bareli for a hearing in the rape case. Two of the five men were accused of raping the woman in December 2018. Report of the post-mortem examination of the victim indicated that she died of extensive burn injuries. The victim suffered 90 per cent burns when five men dragged her outside the village, poured petrol on her and burnt her alive. She was rushed to Lucknow and then to New Delhi, where she died.
It is often claimed by activists and former legal officers that the delay in settling such cases in courts tends to encourage the offenders and the police also lose interest in investigation and prosecution procedure.
In its report for 2017, the National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB) had last year put Uttar Pradesh as most unsafe for women. Of the 3.59 lakh cases of crime reported against women in 2017, Uttar Pradesh recorded the maximum number of crimes against women with 56,011 cases in 2017. The NCRB report also mentioned that in 2016, Uttar Pradesh had the highest number of crimes against women.
State’s Minister for Law Brijesh Pathak said that there were 25,479 cases of rape and sexual crimes against women pending in UP courts and 42,379 cases related to sexual crimes committed against children, according to government data as on June 30, 2019.
Incidentally, it is for the second time in a year that Unnao figures prominently in a crime against women. Earlier this year, an MLA of the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) Kuldeep Singh Sengar of Unnao, had been chargesheeted by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) in a rape case where attempts the victim’s father was killed in custody and an alleged attempt was made to kill eyewitnesses.
The delay by BJP in taking against Sengar had earned the Supreme Court’s ire even as some leaders of the BJP continued to sympathise with Sengar.
The most recent case from Unnao has once again highlighted the poor state of women’s safety. Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath had been under pressure to act tough and fast as these reports were hurting the state’s image in the build-up to hosting the prestigious Defence Expo in Lucknow two months later in February 2020.
The special courts will be part of the total 1,023 Fast Track Special Courts (FTSCs) which were proposed to be set up under the POCSO Act earlier this year as an initiative of the Union Ministry of Women and Child Development to expedite trials of rape cases. According to official sources, an expenditure of Rs 75 lakh is expected on each court, and the total planned expenditure would be Rs 1,635 crore. While 60 per cent of the cost of setting up these courts will be borne by the Centre, the remaining will be borne by state.
