 bill no 318 of  2016 the special courts for trial of offences against women bill, 2016 by shrimati supriya sule, mp a billto provide for constitution of special courts for trial of cases of offences of sexual violence against  women in order to ensure speedy disposal of such cases and for matters connected therewithbe it enacted by parliament in the sixty-seventh year of the republic of india as follows:—1 (1) this act may be called the special courts for trial of offences against womenact, 2016short title, extent and commencement(2) it extends to the whole of india except the state of jammu and kashmirdefinitions2 in this act, unless the context otherwise requires,—(a) "appropriate government" means in the case of a state, the state governmentand in all other cases, the central government;(b) "prescribed" means prescribed by rules made under this act;545 of 1860(c) "sexual violence" refers to offences referred to in sections 292, 354, 354a,354b, 354c, 354d, 375, 376, 376a, 376b, 376c, 376d, 376e and 509 of indian penal code, 1860; and(d) "special court" means a court constituted under section 3 to exclusively trycases of offences of sexual violence against women10constitution of specialcourts3 the appropriate government shall, within six months of the coming into force ofthis act, constitute in every district a special court to exclusively try cases of sexual violence154 the selection criteria for appointment of judges in the special courts and the term ofoffice and other conditions of service of such judges shall be such as the appropriate government may, in consultation with high court, specifyselection criteria for appointment of judges number of judges in special courts5 the number of judges to be appointed in any special court shall be such as the highcourt may, in consultation with state government, specify, after taking into consideration the backlog of cases of sexual violence in that special courttransfer ofpending cases206 every case or other proceeding relating to offences of sexual violence pendingbefore any court or other authority immediately before the date of constitution of a special court under this act shall stand transferred on that date to the special court of appropriate jurisdiction:provided that nothing in this section shall apply to any appeal pending asaforesaid before a high court25law students to assist special courts7 (1) the appropriate government shall coordinate with the national law universitiesand other law colleges in the state in order to allow final year law students to intern at thespecial courts45 of 186030(2) the law students, as intern, shall assist in disposal of cases, other than casesunder sections 375, 376, 376a, 376b, 376c, 376d and 376e of the indian penal code, 1860, being tried in special courts, in such manner, as may be prescribed8 (1) the charge sheet of offence of sexual violence shall be filed within such period,not exceeding thirty days, as the appropriate government may specify:time limits for filing of charge sheetprovided that in case of delay in filing the charge sheet, the investigating officershall submit before the special court the reasons of such delay35(2) where the delay in filing charge sheet is caused due to negligence on the part ofthe investigating officer or some other person, such investigating officer or that person shall be punished with simple imprisonment which may extend upto six months or with fine or with both409 the special court shall decide the case of sexual violence within such period, notexceeding one hundred and twenty days from the date of filing of charge sheet, as the appropriate government may specifytime limit for deciding cases by specialcourt appeal in high court10 any person aggrieved by the order of the special court may file an appeal to thehigh court within sixty days from the date of order:45provided that the high court may, if it is satisfied that the appellant was preventedby sufficient cause from filing an appeal within the said period, allow it to be filed within a further period not exceeding sixty daysincreasing awareness11 the appropriate government shall take such measures, as may be prescribed, to increase awareness amongst women about the legal safeguards against, and the legal provisions relating to, eve-teasing and sexual violence512 the central government shall, after due appropriation made by parliament bylaw in this behalf, provide adequate funds for the implementation of the provisions of the actcentral government to provide adequate funds o v e r r i d i n g effect of the act13 the provisions of this act shall have effect notwithstanding anything inconsistenttherewith contained in any other law for the time being in force or in any instrument having effect by virtue of any law other than this act1014 the provisions of this act shall be in addition to and not in derogation of any otherlaw, for the time being in force, regulating any of the matters dealt with in this actact not to be in derogation ofother lawspower to make rules15 (1) the central government may by notification in the official gazette make rulesfor carrying out the provisions of this act15(2) every rule made under this act shall be laid, as soon as may be after it is made,before each house of parliament, while it is in session, for a total period of thirty days which may be comprised in one session or in two or more successive sessions, and if, before the expiry of  the session immediately following the session or  the successive sessions aforesaid, both houses agree in making any modification in the rule or both the houses agree that the rule should not be made, the rule shall thereafter have effect only in such modified form or be of no effect, as the case may be; so, however, that any such modification or annulment shall be without prejudice to the validity of anything previously done under that rule20 statement of objects and reasonsin madheshwardhari singh and anr, vs state of  bihar 1986, the supreme court upheld the right to speedy trial as a fundamental right but not much progress has been achieved by the courts in disposing civil and criminal cases the total number of pending cases in high courts and subordinate courts, by the end of 2014, was more than three crore of these pending cases, 92% are pending for more than ten yearsthe main reasons for pendency of cases are vacancies, inadeqauate judge strength, lack of physical infrastructure and large influx of new cases into courts according to the data collected by the national crime records bureau, as many as 3,37,922 cases of crimes against women were registered in 2014 this is an increase of 92% from the registered crimes against women in 2013 crimes committed under the indian penal code (ipc) against women, as proportion of total crimes, have increased to 114% in 2014the voluminous nature of pending cases and the resultant delay in the delivery of justice to the victims encourage criminals to commit crimes criminal justice system as a mechanism to check the crime rate has been rendered ineffective due to time lags in disposal of casesone way to tackle the problem is to have special courts dealing with cases of crimes against women after the delhi gang rape case of 2012, the union law ministry directed the states to set up fast track courts to deal with such crimes against women despite such efforts, backlog of cases continues to persistthis bill aims to define the role and  responsibilities of these fast track courts to augment them in their functioning its objective is enable women victims to realise their right to speedy delivery of justicehence this billnew delhi;supriya  suleoctober 10, 2016 financial memorandumclause 3 of the bill provides for establishment of special courts at the district levelclause 5 provides for appointment of judges in special courts clause 7 provides that law students, as intern, shall assist in disposal of certain type of cases in special courts clause 11 provides that the appropriate government shall take measures to create awareness amongst women about the legal safeguards and provisions relating to eve-teasing and sexual violence clause 12 provides that the central government shall provide adequate funds to the state government for effective implementation of this act the expenditure in respect of special courts in union territories shall be met out of the consolidated fund of india and the expenditure in respect of special courts in states will be met out of the consolidated fund of the respective states the bill, therefore, if enacted, will involve expenditure from the consolidated fund of india it is estimated that a sum of rupees two thousand crore would be involved as recurring expenditure per annuma non-recurring expenditure of about rupees five hundred crore is also likely to be involved memorandum  regarding  delegated  legislationclause 15 of the bill empowers the central government to make rules for carrying out the purposes of the bill as the rules will relate to matters of detail only, the delegation of legislative power is of a normal character———— a billto provide for constitution of special courts for trial of cases of offences of sexual violence against  women in order to ensure speedy disposal of such cases and for matters connected therewith————(shrimati supriya sule, mp)gmgipmrnd—3450ls(s3)—02-12-2016