Rekha Kabir, a senior advocate with the New Delhi Commission for Women, told Al Jazeera. “We have a very large number of cases pending in court. And we are not counting cases filed under new clauses in the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act which also came into force in 2015.”

According to Kabir, even though a large number of cases are pending in court, she is aware of a number of these that have been transferred to the Delhi High Court in the past few years.

“Most cases we are aware of have been transferred to the Delhi High Court – even those where the court may transfer in the future, because the courts don’t have good facilities and because they have not done a good job. Just this morning, we received the information that IED cases were transferred to the Delhi High Court,” she said.

While the High Court in Delhi has been dealing with most of the cases pending in the NCRB, there have been instances where cases at the NCRB and elsewhere have been transferred to the Delhi High Court because the Supreme Court has declined requests by states to transfer the cases to Delhi.

A case that has been transferred to a higher court involves Shailesh Kumar, who has been detained by the Central Bureau of Investigation/CBI in Kolkata after attempting to enter a bar in the city. On January 22, the CBI moved a habeas corpus petition to transfer the case to the Delhi High Court following the Delhi high court order in which the home minister had barred Kumar from entering the bar.

However in July this year, the Delhi high court, ruled that the CBI could not be transferred to the Delhi High Court in light of its failure to follow the habeas corpus order, and thus, directed the CBI to transfer the case to the special investigation team – the National Investigation Agency – which also handles the cases of Aditya Thackeray, convicted in the 2002 Mumbai blasts trial.

“But once they transfer, the court cannot touch any of their cases,” said Kabir. “Even the high court can only order for an investigation or a trial, as their records are still on their books. Even if they are not transferred to the high court until they finish the judicial review process. So even with the right outcome at the top court, the fact remains that all these cases may have to wait at the CJI in the NCTC.”