india

Updated: Mar 14, 2019 17:55 IST

The Uttar Pradesh government has paved way for constitution of one fast track court each in all the 75 districts of the state to adjudicate cases involving women. These courts will hear cases including those related to violence against women.

A government order to this effect was issued on March 8, the international women’s day. The state government has sanctioned 648 posts for these courts. These posts include 81 of judicial magistrates.

According to a senior official of the state law department, the sanction for the posts has been conveyed to the registrar general of the Allahabad High Court by principal secretary (law) Dinesh Kumar Singh.

The order, which came just days before the 2019 parliamentary poll schedule was announced by the Election Commission, states that these posts would remain valid from the date of joining of the individual till February 29, 2020 unless dissolved earlier, the official added.

The posts sanctioned include 81 posts each of civil judge (judicial) and shorthand clerk (grade 3), 162 posts each of senior and junior assistants, and 81 posts each of orderly and office peons. The last category of staff is to be hired through outsourcing.

The importance of the government move can be gauged from the fact that state-wise, Uttar Pradesh has seen highest rise in the number of women voters between 2014 and 2019. The number of registered women voters rose by 54 lakh during the period to 6,61,11,941. At 14,40,61,892, Uttar Pradesh has the highest number of registered voters in the country.

In the 2017 Uttar Pradesh assembly polls, women voters had outnumbered their male counterparts. About 63.26 per cent of women voters in the politically crucial state had gone to the polling booths as against 59.43 per cent of men.

Immediately after coming to power, the Yogi Adityanath government had proposed 100 special fast-track courts in the districts of Uttar Pradesh. Prepared by the department for law and justice, the proposal, however, remained pending before the department of finance in over huge cost involved, to the tune of Rs 400 crore.

The proposal was in line with the BJP’s ‘sankalp patra’ (manifesto) wherein it had proposed fast tract courts for cases involving women. As of June 2016, Uttar Pradesh topped the list of states where women filed the maximum number of court cases.

According to the data highlighted by a Supreme Court Committee, 20,94,086 cases were filed by women in various courts. These cases constitute 9.58 per cent of the total 2.18 crore pending cases in various courts.

Uttar Pradesh topped the list with 4,40,927 cases were filed by women, followed by Maharashtra with 2,55,122 cases. The state is also among the states where maximum crimes against women have been reported.