Examine whether the Nirbhaya Fund is being used well, taking the FTSC scheme as a case study.

The Nirbhaya Fund was set up to pay for women-safety initiatives, and it has long been criticised for being underused. The Fast-Track Special Courts (FTSC) scheme now draws its Central share of ₹2,353.15 crore for 2026–31 from the Fund [1]. That makes it a direct test of whether the money becomes faster justice. The record so far is mixed: the courts produce output, but they have not cleared the backlog.

Where the Fund is working

• Clear legal purpose: the scheme carries out the Criminal Law (Amendment) Act, 2018 and the SC's Suo Motu Writ (Crl) No. 1 of 2019 directions [5].
• Measurable output: 4,02,457 cases disposed since 2019. There are 779 functional courts, of which 399 are exclusive POCSO courts [1].
• Ring-fenced staffing: each court has 1 judicial officer, 1 Special Public Prosecutor and 6 support staff. This stops the courts from being diverted to general cases [1].
• Stability and targeting: the five-year extension (₹3,788.04 crore) places new courts using pendency data [1].

Where it falls short

• Backlog keeps growing: pending cases rose from 2,02,175 (2023) to about 2.46 lakh (2025). In 2025 there were 66,500 disposals against 1,43,936 new cases, a clearance rate of about 46% [2].
• Target missed: 1,023 courts were approved in 2019 [4], yet only 779 work today. The new target of 850 lowers the goal rather than meeting it [1].
• Coverage has not widened: working FTSCs were in 29 States/UTs in both 2023 [3] and 2026 [2]. As a CSS, the scheme depends on States opting in and paying about 38% of the cost.
• Short-term extensions: before the five-year approval, the scheme ran on temporary extensions up to September 2026 [2]. This made it hard for States to hire contract staff.
• Disposal is not justice: no conviction data is published. The money also does not cover police investigation or forensic delays.

Way forward

• Tie funding to each court's clearance rate and publish court-wise disposal and conviction data.
• Find out why non-participating States stay out (cost or a shortage of judges) and fix that reason.
• Plan FTSC funding together with Nirbhaya-funded police and forensic projects, so cases move on time from FIR to verdict.

The FTSC scheme shows the Nirbhaya Fund is no longer idle, but the spending is not yet producing the results it was meant to. Measuring outcomes, widening coverage and linking courts with investigation would make the money count. That would deliver the speedy trial the Supreme Court has read into Article 21, and support SDG 5 and SDG 16.