Punjab government on Monday decided to establish nine more fast-track courts under the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act and Sexual Assault Response Teams in all the 27 police districts of the state to deal with cases of sexual attacks on women.
This decision was undertaken to strengthen the investigation and prosecution machinery for handling criminal offences against women and children.
At a high-level virtual meeting, chief secretary Vini Mahajan directed officials to clear the pending cases related to women and children from the period 2016 to 2020 through quality investigations on priority. She also directed the officials to lay down standard operating procedures (SOPs) to fast-track the investigation of sexual offences against women and children by specifying the roles and responsibilities of all departments with regard to such cases.
Mahajan ordered the constitution of a State Level Committee, headed by the Additional Chief Secretary (ACS) – Home, to review the monthly progress of pending cases. She directed the Health, Police and Prosecution departments to appoint a nodal officer for better inter-departmental synergy to deal with investigation of criminal cases related to women and child, and also manage the necessary programmes for training of personnel in this regard.
The Chief Secretary announced that the state government will also recruit additional Scientific Officers and Forensic Experts to ensure faster disposal of cases pending with Forensic Science Laboratory (FSL). She added that the process of approval to provide compensation to the victims will also be eased so that such payments are made without any delay.
She also directed the Home department to expedite the establishment of nine other Fast-Track Courts, for which approval has been granted by the Government, in addition to the three such courts already operational in Ludhiana and Jalandhar. Notably, seven Fast-Track Courts dealing with rape cases are also already functional in the state.
DGP Punjab Dinkar Gupta said that Dedicated Help Desks, already established at all police stations and manned by women for attending to complaints of women, will be functioning from SAANJH Kendras located in close vicinity to the police stations. The DGP suggested that some additional district level Special Prosecutors may be appointed to deal with cases related with sexual assault.
