Justice Katju retires

Born on September 20, 1946, Justice Katju was elevated to the Supreme Court in April 2006 after being the Chief Justice of the Delhi and Madras high courts.

During his tenure, he remained in limelight for his strong and incisive observations. He once observed: “The corrupt should be hanged from the lamp post as that was the only way of getting rid of corruption in the country.”

He also suggested death penalty for those involved in dowry death and honour killings. Similarly, he recommended capital punishment to the policemen involved in fake encounter. He was one of the judges in the bench that had held that “mere membership of a banned organisation” would not make a person terrorist or a criminal.