Amaravati, Nov 13 (PTI): Operationalising the fast-track special courts for early disposal of rape and child sexual abuse (POCSO Act) cases and completing the investigations within the stipulated 60-days in such cases will be a major point of discussion at the 29th Southern Zonal Council meeting in Tirupati on Sunday.

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The Union Ministry of Home Affairs has listed this as a priority item in the SZC meeting agenda as there is concern over lower percentage of completion of investigation into such cases within the prescribed time.

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The Centre had in 2018 enacted the Criminal Law (Amendment) Act, 2018, prescribing stringent provisions for sexual offence, including award of death penalty in the rape of a girl below 12 years of age. Also, an Amendment to the Code of Criminal Procedure prescribed a time limit of two months for completion of investigations in such cases.

The Standing Committee of the SZC, at its recent meeting, expressed concern on the lower percentage of completion of investigation of cases within the stipulated time-period in respect of many states and advised member states and Union Territories to make serious efforts for timely completion of cases, the agenda note said.

The Centre, on its part, is adopting a multi-pronged strategy to ensure the amendments to the Act are effectively translated into action at the ground level.

Accordingly, it initiated a series of measures and programmes like the Investigation Tracking System for Sexual Offences, as part of SMART policing, using the Crime and Criminal Tracking Network and Systems for facilitating compliance with the Amendment.

The Centre has asked the states to make serious efforts to operationalise the FTSCs for early disposal of sexual offence cases.

(The above story is verified and authored by Press Trust of India (PTI) staff. PTI, India’s premier news agency, employs more than 400 journalists and 500 stringers to cover almost every district and small town in India.. The views appearing in the above post do not reflect the opinions of LatestLY)