Yearender 2012: Courts act tough on politicians, terrorists
Cases involving corporates, politicians and terrorists engaged trial courts, which also advocated strong measures to deal with crime against women like the brutal gangrape of a 23-year-old student at the fag end of the year.
There was national outrage over the gang-rape case even as the courts here on regular intervals asked lawmakers to explore the possibility of providing alternative punishment which at present provides a maximum life term for rape.
A judge even went to the extend of asking lawmakers to think of permitting imposition of alternative sentences like surgical or chemical castration for those guilty in cases of rape and molestation of minors and serial offenders.
The court had also advocated keeping the offenders of sexual assault away from others in a separate cell.
The other matters which kept the courts busy this year were matters relating to corruption involving politicians, bureaucrats and corporates.
Former BJP chief Bangaru Laxman was sentenced to four year imprisonment by a Delhi court for accepting Rs one lakh bribe from fake arms dealers to recommend their name for award of contract to supply thermal binoculars to the army 11 years
ago.
Finance Minister P Chidambaram got a clean chit in the 2G spectrum scam case by a Delhi court which said he did not indulge in any criminal conspiracy or derived any pecuniary advantage in the decisions taken with former Telecom Minister A Raja.
As the year saw a rise in crime against women, it also saw courts acting tough on perpetrators of such crimes.
In one such case, which
