Overview

• A Supreme Court bench of Justices Bela M. Trivedi and P.B. Varale instructed the Centre and states to establish dedicated POCSO courts on a priority basis.
• Districts with over 300 pending POCSO cases must now have at least two designated courts to handle the backlog efficiently.
• The Court emphasized the need for timely filing of charge-sheets and completion of trials within the statutory timelines outlined in the POCSO Act.
• States with significant case backlogs, including Tamil Nadu, Bihar, Uttar Pradesh, and Maharashtra, were identified as requiring additional court infrastructure.
• The directive follows a suo motu petition addressing the alarming rise in child sexual offence cases and the inadequacy of existing judicial mechanisms.