ROURKELA: The absence of POCSO and Vigilance courts at Rourkela is causing logistics inconvenience as the prosecution, litigant and public have to head to Sundargarh town where the permanent courts are located.
In fact, Panposh and Bonai sub-divisions of Sundargarh district report the maximum offences against women along with corruption cases but the judicial complex is at Sundargarh, almost 100 km away. This means the accused have to be taken there for court appearances leading to logistic challenges.
The Rourkela Bar Association (RBA) has long been seeking establishment of permanent courts of POCSO and Vigilance at Rourkela. Former RBA President Akshay Sahu said, though a fast-track court of ad hoc additional district judge (POCSO) has been operating in Rourkela since June 2023, it lacks the power to take cognisance of new cases, only partially addressing the problem.
Police sources pointed at the difficulty of travelling 220 km between Koida and Sundargarh.
“In POCSO cases from Koida, the accused must be produced at the Sundargarh court and sent to the district jail if bail is denied. After framing of charge-sheet, the case record of any POCSO case of Panposh or Bonai sub-division is transferred to the fast-track court at Rourkela for trial. In this process, the investigating officers have to make three to five trips to Sundargarh during pre-trial procedures,” they said.
As per sources, Rourkela’s fast-track court is overburdened, handling around 220 pending POCSO cases and 126 sexual assault cases, while similar challenges exist for corruption cases under the Rourkela Vigilance Division (RVD).
The RVD headquarter building was established at Rourkela in 2020 with an SP (Vigilance), and other staff to cover Sundargarh, Deogarh, Jharsuguda and Rourkela police districts. But, only a four-day monthly camp court is in operation here while the permanent Vigilance court is still located in Sundargarh town.
RBA vice-president Raj Kishore Pradhan reaffirmed the demand for setting up of permanent POCSO and Vigilance courts at Rourkela for larger public interest.