New Delhi: If the timelines hold, the Red Fort blast case may well be tried in an exclusive fast-track special court at the Rouse Avenue complex. For, Delhi has become the first state in the country to go ahead with the plan to have 16 dedicated fast-track courts for speedy trials of cases under special laws such as UAPA, NIA Act and MCOCA.According to sources, these courts will only deal with hardened criminals or professional gangsters, apart from terror accused, with an aim to fast-track the trial to avoid a situation where they are released on bail. The new special courts will take over more than 100 cases pending under various special statutes in different courts, which also simultaneously hear other regular matters, they added. The current cases under NIA Act and UAPA, involving thousands of witnesses and about 500 accused across three courts, have suffered from protracted trials and delays.
“The dedicated courts be manned by senior and experienced judges who don’t get overawed. It will free up existing courts to ensure UAPA/NIA cases are not heard at the cost of other matters where hundreds of undertrials are languishing in jail, or of those relating to senior citizens and marginalised persons,” a source said.Minutes of meetings and other details accessed by TOI reveal the process was set into motion after Supreme Court in Sept underlined the need for special courts to expedite hearings against organised crime and terror cases, noting bail is sought often on the ground of delayed trial.In the first 10 days of Dec, documents show Delhi govt and Delhi High Court had a flurry of meetings to zero in on Rouse Avenue as the location for housing the special courts. On Dec 5, Delhi govt was informed by the HC administration that it agreed in principle to spare judges to man such special courts, subject to availability of infrastructure. In another meeting, it emerged that 34 courtrooms of various sizes were constructed as Digital NI Act courts, but were not being used in Rouse Avenue.The chief secretary then requested PWD to undert-ake necessary modifications to ensure 10-15 of these existing courts are expanded and made functional for use, along with judges’ chambers and washrooms, so trials can be conducted. Records reveal HC gave its nod five days later, following a meeting of top Delhi govt officials and HC judges in charge of the Rouse Avenue court complex. Held in the chamber of Justice Jyoti Singh on Dec 9, the agenda to construct 16 new courtrooms, along with chambers on the seventh floor of the complex, was discussed and approved.The committee headed by Justice Singh compri-ses justices O P Shukla and Ajay Digpaul.Days later, Delhi govt assured an SC bench headed by CJI Surya Kant, by way of an affidavit, that 16 dedicated special courts are being set up at Rouse Avenue. The affidavit said PWD infor-med the judges that construction work will take at least three months to compl-ete, but it will make an effort to hand over possession at the earliest.The HC committee underlined that since the matter “is under the direct supervision of SC and compliance of directions have to be made, the work be done on an emergent basis”.SC earlier stressed the need for setting up such courts pan-India. “We want these dedicated courts to conduct day-to-day trials in NIA and special statute cases. It is only when they are idle that they will look into other cases,” it observed. CJI Kant also stressed it should not be the case that existing courts are designated as special courts and burden the existing judicial machinery by entrusting special enactment cases.In the last hearing, Additional Solicitor General S D Sanjay assured the CJI-led bench that “govt of India is fully committed to set up special courts for speedy trials for heinous offences”. He submitted that a “meeting was held under the chairmanship of the Union ho-me secretary, along with directors general, NCB, and chief secretaries/secretaries, home and law, of all states, where govt assured them full support for creation of special courts by providing infrastructure”.The top court will review the matter in Jan.
