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.
The Kerala Public Service Commission advertised posts of Junior Health Inspector Grade-II requiring a specific Sanitary Inspector's Certificate course. During shortlisting, KPSC also included candidates who instead held a different, unlisted qualification, a two-year Diploma in Health Inspectors Course (DHIC), after informally concluding it was a "higher" qualification. Candidates holding the properly prescribed certificate challenged this before the Kerala Administrative Tribunal, which ruled in their favour; the High Court affirmed, and the DHIC holders appealed to the Supreme Court.
The Supreme Court examined Rule 10(a)(ii) of the Kerala State and Subordinate Services Rules, which allows substitute qualifications only if they are (i) formally recognized as equivalent by executive/standing government order, (ii) found acceptable by the Commission through the specific procedure in Rule 13(b)(i), or (iii) shown to "pre-suppose" (necessarily include) the originally prescribed lower qualification. The Court found none of these conditions were satisfied: the government and KPSC's internal communications were mere opinions expressed mid-selection, not formal determinations, and no one had shown that completing the DHIC necessarily meant one had also completed the prescribed certificate course. The appeals were accordingly dismissed, upholding exclusion of the DHIC holders from the shortlist.
A recruiting authority cannot informally decide, partway through a selection process, that a different qualification should be treated as equal to or better than the one officially advertised: any such substitution must follow the specific legal procedure laid down for determining equivalence, or it unfairly disadvantages candidates who hold the properly prescribed qualification.
