Emphasising that matters that are heard before family courts are “sensitive” and need “care”, Union Minister for Law and Justice, Kiren Rijiju, informed the Parliament on Tuesday that he had written to all states to ensure that family courts are set up in each district with over 10 lakh population.

The statement was made as the Lok Sabha debated the Family Courts Amendment Bill, which had been passed by the Lower house.

Defending the bill, Rijiju also gave data on the current number of family courts and pending cases.

According to the reply given by Rijiju to the Lok Sabha, at present there are 715 family courts in the country with 11,49,907 cases pending as of April 31. The country has 773 districts in total and till May, 69,464 new cases have been registered.

The Minister for Law and Justice also said that he will be “taking a review” of the situation later this week during a Conference of all District Judges that is scheduled for 30 July. The chief justice of India, the prime minister, and district judges of all districts in the country will be participating in the conference.

“We recently had a conference of chief justices of all high courts and the senior judges of the Supreme Court will be considered important issues. This conference will also deliberate on these issues and the issue of family courts,” said Rijiju.

“The disposal of family court cases requires slow, careful and sensitive resolution. The government is looking into how to do this,” said Rijiju.

He also emphasized the use of technology and mediation to speed up the resolution of family court cases. “Most family and commercial cases can be resolved through mediation. We are also bringing in a Mediation Bill. District legal aid counselling will be free through the National Legal Services Authority,” said Rijiju