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.
Following the 2020 Delhi riots, the Delhi Legislative Assembly's Peace and Harmony Committee summoned senior Facebook India executives (including the petitioner, Ajit Mohan) to testify about the platform's alleged role in spreading content linked to the riots. Facebook's representatives challenged the summons before the Supreme Court, arguing that the Committee had no power to compel their appearance since "public order" and "police" fall under the Union's domain (not the Delhi Assembly's, given Delhi's special constitutional status), and that the Committee's conduct, including a press conference naming Facebook, showed it was overreaching into law-and-order territory and effectively trying to prosecute them.
The Court held that an Assembly's committee generally does have the power to summon anyone, including non-members like the petitioners, and to compel their appearance through privilege proceedings: this is not limited to subjects the Assembly can legislate on, since committees also perform broader governance/oversight functions. However, because the Committee's terms of reference included a clause effectively asking it to recommend prosecution, and its Chairman had held a press conference naming Facebook specifically, the Court struck down that one problematic clause and clarified that the Committee cannot act as a prosecuting body or compel answers on matters squarely within the Union's exclusive domain (law and order/police). With these limited safeguards, the writ petition challenging the summons was dismissed, and the Committee proceedings were allowed to continue within those bounds. The judgment also included an unusual "postscript" urging shorter, more efficient court proceedings.
Legislative committees have broad powers to summon witnesses, including executives of private companies with no obvious political immunity, even on matters beyond their power to directly legislate, but those powers have limits where the subject matter falls exclusively within another government's jurisdiction or where the process is being used punitively rather than for genuine fact-finding.
