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Judgment
This Criminal Petition has been filed by the petitioner seeking expeditious trial and disposal of S.C.Spl.No.162 of 2022 on the file of the Fast Track Special Court for Expeditious Trial and Disposal of Rape and POCSO Act cases at Medchal.
Heard Mr.Apurva M. Gokhale, learned counsel for the petitioner and Mr.Jithender Rao Veeramalla, learned Additional Public Prosecutor for respondent No.1.
Notice in respect of respondent No.2 is dispensed with solely on the ground that the petitioner has filed the present petition seeking expeditious disposal of S.C.Spl.No.162 of 2022, and she is not seeking any relief against respondent No.2.
Learned counsel for the petitioner submitted that the Investigating Officer, after conducting the investigation, filed the final report as early as on 08.03.2022 and the learned Special Court has taken cognizance of the offences under Section 354-A of the Indian Penal Code, 1860 (for short 'IPC') and Section 7 read with Section 8 of the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act, 2012 (for short, 'the Act'). As per the provisions of Section 35(2) of the Act, the learned Special Judge shall complete the trial, within a period of one year from the date of taking cognizance. Though the learned Special Court took cognizance in the year 2022, the matter is being adjourned from time to time for one reason or another. Unless this Court issues necessary directions fixing a time limit for conclusion of the trial and disposal of the case, the petitioner will be put to great hardship.
Per contra, the learned Additional Public Prosecutor submitted that several old cases arising out of POCSO offences are pending before the trial Court, and in the present case, even charges have not yet been framed. Therefore, at this stage, the petitioner is not entitled to seek fixation of a time limit for disposal of S.C.Spl.No.162 of 2022.
Having considered the rival submissions made by the respective parties and upon perusal of the material available on record, it reveals that the Investigating Officer, after conducting the investigation, filed the final report before the learned trial Court on 08.03.2022. Even according to the learned counsel for the petitioner, the learned Special Court took cognizance of the offences under Section 354-A of the IPC and Section 7 read with Section 8 of the Act in the year 2022.
Taking into consideration the peculiar facts and circumstances of the case and also in view of the provisions of Section 35(2) of the Act, the learned Special Court is directed to conclude the trial and dispose of S.C.Spl.No.162 of 2022 as expeditiously as possible. It is made clear that the parties in lis shall cooperate with the trial Court for the disposal of the case without seeking undue adjournments. It is needless to mention that the petitioner is granted liberty to renew the request for fixation of a time limit whenever the cause arises.
With the above said direction, the Criminal Petition is disposed of accordingly.
Miscellaneous applications, pending if any, shall stand closed.