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 petitioner, an LLB student at Delhi University, was detained from appearing in her 4th Semester examination for falling short of attendance: partly because she had given birth to a child shortly before and partly due to a teachers' strike that disrupted classes. Her writ petition and intra-court appeal before the Delhi High Court were both dismissed, so she approached the Supreme Court. Over successive interim orders between 2018 and 2020, the Court allowed her to keep attending classes and writing later-semester exams "at her own risk," with results to be declared subject to the outcome of this petition.
By the time the matter was finally taken up, the petitioner had already completed the entire course and most of her semester results, except the 5th Semester Supplementary Examination, had already been declared pursuant to the Court's earlier interim directions. The Court held that the original dispute over the 4th Semester detention no longer survived for active adjudication and had become only of "academic interest." It therefore disposed of both the interlocutory application and the SLP by directing the University to declare her pending 5th Semester Supplementary results and issue her provisional degree and certificates, subject to completing other formalities.
Courts will not continue to adjudicate a legal dispute on its original merits once intervening events (here, completion of the course under interim protection) have made the underlying grievance moot: the practical remedy that actually helps the person is what the Court will order instead.
