17 fast-track courts opened in Kerala

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Chief minister Pinarayi Vijayan and Kerala high court Chief Justice S Manikumar inaugurated 17 new fast track courts in the state through an online event on Tuesday. The courts, that will exclusively cater to cases related to atrocities against children registered under the Pocso Act and rape cases, will begin functioning from Wednesday.
As per statistics, 7,600 cases under the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (Pocso) Act and 6,700 rape cases were registered in the state till March 31 this year.
The 17 fast track courts inaugurated on Tuesday are among the 28 new courts the state government had planned to open.
There are socio-cultural and economic reasons behind the atrocities against children. The government is trying to find the reasons and find solutions after analysing the reasons, the chief minister said. Saying that strict actions will be initiated against those involved in atrocities against children, the chief minister added that 89 persons, including a doctor, were arrested recently over such offences in a raid conducted by a 117-member team of the state police.
He said that the government will also take the help of Interpol in the operation that is named Operation P-hunt.
The event was attended by social justice and women and child development minister K K Shylaja, law minister A K Balan, high court judges C T Ravikumar, A M Shaffique, K Vinod Chnadran and A Hariprasad, advocate general C P Sudhakara Prasad, chief secretary Vishwas Mehta, law secretary Aravinda Babu and additional chief secretary (home and vigilance) T K Jose.