In re: FTSCs POCSO Monitoring
Supreme Court of India2026 SCC OnLine SC 198Bench: J. Sanjiv Khanna, J. Sanjay Kumar
The Supreme Court noted with concern that as of December 2025, the national pendency of cases before FTSCs remained at over 2.3 lakh cases despite the scheme being operational for over 6 years. The Court directed: (1) States with more than 500 POCSO pending cases per court to create additional POCSO Special Courts within 3 months; (2) the Union to release pending Central scheme funds to States within 6 weeks; (3) District and Sessions Judges to ensure that POCSO cases do not remain unheard for more than 90 days at a stretch without a documented reason. The Court also directed the National Law Services Authority to ensure that child victims in all POCSO cases before FTSCs are assigned a support person under Section 39 POCSO and a victim's advocate from the legal services authority.