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.
Civil Appeal · 2026 INSC 1094
An older qualification must still satisfy the eligibility rules governing the appointment sought. Here, the certificate's early date did not secure reinstatement, and rejection of eligibility should not be confused with a conclusive finding that the certificate was forged.
Civil Appeal · 2026 INSC 1095
A party benefiting from a conditional stay must meet its deposit requirement or face enforcement. The additional ₹15 crore deposit secures the pending dispute; it does not settle the land's final compensation or amount to an immediate payment to the landowners.
Criminal Appeal · 2026 INSC 1093
An alleged attempt to kill does not become a lesser offence simply because the victim avoided a fatal injury. Restoring this charge means the accusation must be tried; it does not establish that the accused is guilty.
Civil Appeal · 2026 INSC 1090
For the assessment in this case, assistance reducing ordinary manufacturing costs was taxable even though the government wanted to encourage industry. The purpose and actual operation of the particular subsidy mattered more than its general development label.
Criminal Appeal · 2026 INSC 1091
Proof that someone caused a serious injury does not by itself prove the additional ingredients of robbery. A court can substitute a lesser offence supported by the evidence; the sentencing reduction here depended on Appa's particular circumstances.
Special Leave Petition (Civil) · 2026 INSC 1092
Someone challenging an election must ensure that the personal-presentation requirement is met and can be proved. Merely entering the court building does not establish compliance, and a filing defect can end the challenge before the election allegations are examined.
Civil Appeal · 2026 INSC 1088
An employee who retires on 30 June may be entitled to the increment that falls due on 1 July after completing a year of service. Authorities that delay paying the amounts due must pay interest after the deadline set by the court.
Civil Appeal · 2026 INSC 1089
Recruitment must follow the qualifications stated in the advertisement and the governing Recruitment Rules. A court will not override a merit-based eligibility decision made under those rules merely because the candidate concerned was higher in the written test.
Writ Petition (Criminal) · 2026:DHC:8797
A person who occupied property only because of employment has no independent right to remain once the employment and decree end. Even when a petition fails, courts can make practical arrangements to let a person recover personal belongings.
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Log in to see moreFollowing a 2021 murder allegedly committed by activists of a political organization out of political enmity, several accused were granted bail by the trial court in December 2022 after nearly a year in custody. The State's application to cancel that bail was rejected by the Sessions Judge, but the State then approached the Kerala High Court, which set aside the bail granted to five of the ten accused (including the appellants), finding the Sessions Court had granted bail mechanically without weighing the risk of witness tampering or evidence interference. The five affected accused appealed to the Supreme Court against the revocation of their bail.
The Supreme Court reaffirmed the settled distinction between "cancellation" of bail (for an accused's misconduct after release) and "setting aside/revoking" a bail order (for being illegal or perverse), and held the High Court's route via Section 482 read with Section 439(2) CrPC was maintainable. On merits, the Court found that apart from one co-accused's alleged violation (which it examined and found unconvincing, since the alleged victim had disowned the resulting complaint), the appellants had not violated any bail conditions and had already spent nearly a year in custody followed by about two years on bail without incident. Weighing individual liberty against the gravity of the offence and witness-safety concerns, the Court restored their bail but attached strict new conditions, including staying out of the district except for trial, marking attendance at a local police station, and not seeking deferment of eyewitness cross-examinations.
Bail once granted should not be lightly revoked merely because the trial court's reasoning was thin; a superior court can instead impose stronger safeguard conditions to balance liberty against the risk to a fair trial, since long incarceration followed by a clean track record on bail weighs heavily against sending an accused back to custody.
