Real judgements, distilled
Court judgements broken down into the case type, how the decision played out, and the lesson worth remembering, with the full judgement available as a PDF.
Criminal Appeal · 2026 INSC 1073
In circumstantial-evidence cases, forensic and DNA evidence must actually corroborate the alleged crime: a conviction cannot survive where the most crucial scientific evidence, on its own terms, points away from rather than toward the prosecution's theory.
Criminal Appeal · 2026 INSC 1074
A conviction based purely on circumstantial evidence requires every link in the chain, timeline, witness credibility, forensic matches, and motive, to be proven beyond reasonable doubt; gaps or suppressed evidence at any link entitle the accused to the benefit of the doubt, even in a serious case like a double murder.
Criminal Miscellaneous Case · 2026:DHC:8505
Courts will not quash a criminal case merely because the accused has a plausible alibi-type defence; unless that defence is conclusive and undisputed, the matter must be tested through the ordinary trial process.
Criminal Miscellaneous Case · 2026:DHC:8547
A private compromise between victim and accused cannot by itself secure quashing of a case involving serious, heinous allegations like attempted murder with a weapon: such matters must proceed to trial regardless of settlement.
First Appeal from Order · 2026:DHC:8563
Railway Claims Tribunals cannot reject a bona fide passenger's death claim based on speculative inferences when there is no direct evidence of an alternative cause of death; the compensation scheme under the Railways Act is to be interpreted generously in favour of victims' families.
Criminal Miscellaneous Case · 2026:DHC:8559
In matrimonial offences, courts can and do quash criminal proceedings once a genuine compromise is verified directly with the complainant, sparing both parties a prolonged and pointless trial.
Bail Application · 2026:DHC:8541
A co-accused's bail does not automatically extend to another accused where their actual roles in the offence differ materially; delay caused by one's own defence counsel cannot later be used as a ground for bail.
Execution Petition · 2026:DHC:8567
An arbitral award must be adequately stamped before a court can enforce it; courts give only a limited window to cure such defects, after which the award becomes legally unusable until the deficiency is fixed.
Arbitration Petition · 2026:DHC:8555
A genuine settlement reached through mediation renders a pending arbitration-related court petition moot, allowing parties to close out litigation quickly once they resolve their dispute privately.
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Legal Case Shots is a searchable database of Supreme Court of India judgments, each broken down into the case type, the court's key holding, and a practical lesson learnt, with the full judgment available as a PDF for citation or deeper reading.
A landlady in Tamil Nadu let out her shop to a tenant to run a supermarket under a specific trade name. She later discovered the shop was being run under an entirely different trade name by a different person, who held the sales-tax registration, trading licence, and bank accounts in his own name. She sought the tenant's eviction for sub-letting and arrears of rent; the Rent Controller refused eviction, the Rent Control Appellate Authority reversed and ordered eviction for sub-letting, and the Madras High Court then reversed again, restoring the tenant's possession.
The Supreme Court found the evidence, the tenant's own admissions in cross-examination that he had handed the shop over to the other person via a power of attorney, who ran it as owner with all licenses and accounts in his name, overwhelmingly established sub-letting, not a genuine business partnership as the tenant claimed. Citing its earlier precedents, the Court reiterated that merely inducting a partner is not sub-letting, but using a partnership as a cover to conceal a transfer of actual possession is. Since the High Court had failed to even engage with this evidence, the Supreme Court allowed the appeal, set aside the High Court's judgment, and restored the eviction decree, giving the occupants three months to hand over possession after paying arrears.
A tenant cannot escape an eviction case for illegal sub-letting by merely labelling the arrangement a "partnership": courts look at who actually holds exclusive possession, licences, and control of the premises and money, regardless of what the parties call it.
