Submitting a hard-hitting charter of demands to the Justice Verma Committee, women groups have demanded the setting up of fast-track courts to deliver judgment within a three-month period for all cases of sexual assault.
Women’s groups including the All India Women’s Conference, NFIW and Muslim Women’s Forum also demanded that investigation in cases of sexual assault be completed within a one month period with the accused being refused bail both during the period of investigation and the period of trial.
Senior advocate Kirti Singh of AIDWA pointed out that a uniform standard operating procedure be followed by the police investigating cases of sexual assault.
Describing the proposed changes in section 375 to broaden the definition of rape presently before Parliament as being totally inadequate, Kirti Singh of AIDWA maintained that the rape law must be expanded to include “persistent sexual assaults by guardian” and “sexual assault by members of the armed forces.”.
Dr Ranjana Kumari also emphasised the need for fast track justice especially since 95,000 rape cases are pending in law courts where conviction rate was 26 per cent.
Dr Kumari said only 10 per cent of rape cases were being reported from rural India, with 44 per cent of the rape victims being under the age of 18.
Minister of law Ashwani Kumar, addressing a seminar on judicial reform, cautioned against the public losing faith in the judicial delivery system and the rule of law.
“The public outrage following the recent gangrape case was also against the perceived inadequacies in the way procedural laws are administered,’ Mr Kumar said.
The minister said the judicial system was under “strain” due to backlog of cases with three crore cases pending in the 21 high courts and subordinate courts.
The Supreme Court was saddled with 66,000 pending cases. Kumar said the Gram Nyayalaya Act would help up courts in rural areas.