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.
Transfer Petition (Criminal) · 2026 INSC 1060
Where a marriage has irretrievably broken down and the parties reach a genuine, voluntary settlement, including on alimony, the Supreme Court can use its Article 142 powers to grant a mutual-consent divorce and close out all related litigation in one stroke, without requiring the usual statutory waiting period.
Writ Petition (Civil) · 2026 INSC 1061
In long-running, complex litigation involving apportioned government liabilities across states, the Supreme Court can use a mechanism like a retired-judge committee plus periodic compliance affidavits to bring genuine finality, including firm timelines, transparency obligations, and interest for delayed payment, rather than leaving matters open-ended.
Civil Appeal · 2026 INSC 1062
In an "as is where is" liquidation auction, a bidder who voluntarily accepts the auction terms cannot later resile from a forfeiture clause by citing regulatory caps or after-the-fact excuses for non-payment: courts will enforce the auction notice's own conditions.
Writ Petition (Criminal) · 2026:DHC:8338-DB
Once someone is released from custody because the police failed to properly communicate the grounds of arrest, the police cannot simply re-arrest them by adding new charges: a specific, court-supervised procedure with senior-officer accountability must be followed, or the re-arrest itself becomes illegal.
Bail Application · 2026:DHC:8308
In economic-offence cases, bail can still be granted where the method used to quantify the alleged financial evasion is not adequately justified, and where the apprehension of re-offending is speculative rather than evidence-based.
Writ Petition (Criminal) · 2026:DHC:8323
A parole claim must be backed by a genuine, verifiable application to the competent jail authority: courts will scrutinise irregularities like an incomplete address, an unexplained thumb mark, or reliance on a mere friend's affidavit rather than close family.
Bail Application · 2026:DHC:8337
Courts can grant short, strictly time-bound interim bail purely on humanitarian/compassionate grounds (such as caring for a seriously ill family member), even while a case remains pending trial and an earlier bail plea has failed.
Bail Application · 2026:DHC:8312
Courts will not repeatedly re-examine a bail plea already rejected on merits unless the applicant can point to a genuine change in circumstances since the earlier order.
First Appeal from Order · 2026:DHC:8334
Under the no-fault compensation scheme for railway accidents, a valid ticket-holder injured while attempting to board a train, even carelessly, is generally entitled to compensation unless the railway can show a deliberate, conscious exposure to danger, not mere negligence.
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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.
Six writ petitions filed under Article 32 of the Constitution challenged rules that prescribe minimum qualifying marks in the viva voce (interview) stage of selection to the District Judiciary in Bihar and Civil Judge recruitment in Gujarat. The petitioners, who failed to clear the interview cut-off despite scoring well in the written exam, argued this violated their fundamental rights to equality (Article 14) and non-discrimination in public employment (Article 16), and was inconsistent with the Supreme Court's earlier judgment in All India Judges Association (2002) which had adopted the Shetty Commission's recommendations on judicial pay and recruitment. The lead case concerned the 2015 Bihar recruitment; connected petitions raised similar issues for Gujarat's 2019 and 2022 Civil Judge recruitments.
The Court held that prescribing minimum qualifying marks for the interview does not violate the All India Judges (2002) judgment or the Shetty Commission recommendations, since ensuring a baseline standard in the interview (which tests articulation, temperament and suitability for judicial office) is a legitimate part of a rigorous selection process for judges. It upheld both the Bihar Rules (Clause 11 of Appendix "C") and the Gujarat Rules (Rule 8(3)) as valid, and rejected the argument that Gujarat's rules were void for want of consultation with the Public Service Commission. All six writ petitions were dismissed with no order as to costs. The Court also made broader observations urging High Courts to appoint a designated authority to address candidates' queries during recruitment and to publish a basic syllabus outline in advance.
Recruiting bodies for judicial services can validly set a minimum interview cut-off in addition to written exam marks: a strong written score alone does not guarantee selection, and courts will not strike down such requirements merely because they make selection harder, so long as the interview genuinely tests suitability for the post.
