Source: TOI
Context
The Prime Minister announced the establishment of fast-track courts to deliver swift and stringent justice for offences related to examination paper leaks. The Public Examinations (Prevention of Unfair Means) Amendment Bill, 2026 gives statutory backing to Special Fast Track Courts for such offences.
What They Are
- Special, usually temporary judicial benches for expedited trial of specific, high-priority offences, complex corporate frauds, or cases involving vulnerable groups.
- They aim to reduce backlog by holding daily hearings and adhering to strict timelines, bypassing routine adjournments.
- Most are designated existing courts rather than newly created ones — the core structural weakness.
Constitutional and Judicial Framework
- Article 14 (equality before law): the Supreme Court has held that Fast Track or Special Courts must comply with Article 14 — classification of offences for special treatment must be reasonable and have a rational nexus with the objective.
- Article 21: the right to a speedy trial was read into the right to life in Hussainara Khatoon v. State of Bihar (1979).
- Article 247: empowers Parliament to establish additional courts for better administration of laws made by it.
- Brij Mohan Lal v. Union of India (2012): the Supreme Court examined the FTC scheme and directed that States either continue FTCs on a permanent basis or phase them out, rather than run them on uncertain ad hoc extensions.
Evolution of the Scheme
- 11th Finance Commission (2000–2005): originally recommended and funded 1,734 Fast Track Courts for long-pending sessions and undertrial cases.
- 14th Finance Commission (2015–2020): recommended setting up 1,800 FTCs for heinous crimes such as murder and kidnapping, and civil and property disputes pending over five years.
- Fast Track Special Courts (FTSCs), October 2019: a Centrally Sponsored Scheme funded partly through the Nirbhaya Fund, dedicated exclusively to rape and POCSO Act cases.
- BNSS, 2023: prescribes time limits for criminal trials — including completion of sexual offence trials within two months of the chargesheet.
