CHENNAI: At least six special courts for the trial of cases under the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act will be established across Tamil Nadu to ensure expeditious trials and speedy delivery of justice.
Five such courts will be established at Tenkasi, Erode, Tiruppur, Tiruchy and Kallakurichi, while one additional court will come up in Chennai. The state government has accorded sanction for the establishment of these courts, the Madras High Court was informed.
The submission was made before the first bench of Chief Justice Sushrut Arvind Dharmadhikari and Justice G Arul Murugan on Tuesday by the court’s Registry when a petition filed by a rape survivor seeking directions for the speedy trial of cases involving crimes against women and children came up for hearing.
The bench, during the previous hearing, had directed the Registry to file a report on the number of special courts for POCSO Act cases and the requirement for establishing new courts. Such a report was filed before the bench. It noted that the posts of presiding officers have remained vacant in four special courts for POCSO cases.
According to the report, as many as 18,675 cases are pending before all the special courts and designated courts for POCSO Act cases in the state, with the two courts in Chennai accounting for 1,204 cases and Coimbatore 1,023 cases as of June 25, 2026. The total number of pending cases in the Union Territory of Puducherry is 279.
Apart from the special courts and designated courts, the pendency of such cases before juvenile justice boards in Tamil Nadu stands at 1,480, while the corresponding figure for the Union Territory is 60.
The Registry also informed the bench that the Committee for Effective Implementation of the Juvenile Justice Act and to Regulate and Monitor the Progress of Trials under the POCSO Act and the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (NDPS) Act regulates and monitors the courts dealing with POCSO Act cases in the state and the neighbouring Union Territory.
Since the state government sought time to file its report on the issue, the bench adjourned the hearing by a week.
The government had already informed the court that it would frame a standard operating procedure (SOP) for the speedy prosecution of crimes against women and children.
The petitioner is a rape survivor hailing from Andhra Pradesh. She was subjected to the heinous crime on September 29, 2025, in Tiruvannamalai when two policemen — Suresh Raj and Sundar — intercepted the vehicle in which she was travelling with her foster mother and uncle before taking her to a secluded place and perpetrating the crime.
Pointing out that Section 346(1) of the BNSS provides for a two-month period for the completion of the trial from the date of filing of the charge sheet, the petitioner noted that the Tiruvannamalai Mahila Court has not commenced the trial despite the fact that the final report was filed on November 4, 2025. She sought the court's directions to the trial courts not only in her case but also, in general, to conduct trials on a day-to-day basis.
