BHUBANESWAR: Inadvertently a news item was published on September 21 edition of The New Indian Express under the heading ‘Rijiju urges Chief Justice of Orissa HC to expedite fast track courts’ wherein it has been stated that not a single ePOCSO court is fully functional in the State.
In fact, the High Court of Orissa in order to ensure fast tracking of trial of cases under POCSO Act and rape cases, had moved the State government to establish 24 ePOCSO (exclusive POCSO) courts and simultaneously the State government was also moved for establishment of 21 Fast Track Special Courts as per the FTSC Scheme of the Central Government.
Accordingly, 24 ePOCSO courts and 21 FTSCs have been established. On the basis of a SOP, 21 retired judicial officers have been appointed as Ad-hoc Addl. District & Sessions Judges in the Fast Track Special Courts and all the 21 FTSCs have been made functional in the State.
In total, 44 POCSO courts for trial of such cases have already been established and are functional, out of which 23 courts are regular ePOCSO courts and 21 are FTSCs. The High Court of Orissa also monitors the progress of these cases and fast-tracking of trial of these cases have also been closely supervised
More significantly, as on August 31, 2022, 565 POCSO cases and 140 rape cases have been disposed of within a year from the date of taking cognizance and 284 POCSO cases and 49 rape cases have been disposed of within six months from the date of cognizance.
So far as the disposal of the cases in the High Court of Orissa is concerned, during this year till September 21, 2022, 98,157 cases have been disposed of as against 74,885 instituted which indicate that around 24,000 more cases have been disposed of as compared to institution.
It is worthwhile to mention that the present sanction strength and working strength of judges in the High Court is 33 and 23 respectively. Even as there is vacancy of 10 judges, the High Court of Orissa under the leadership of the Chief Justice Dr S Muralidhar has made a new benchmark in disposal of cases, far more than the cases instituted.