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.
Jharkhand's Home Department advertised 384 posts of Police Sub-Inspectors and related ranks in 2008, but an inquiry later found the original selection list was prepared incorrectly by giving undue weight to candidates' post preferences rather than merit. The State cancelled 42 of the original appointments and appointed 43 more-meritorious candidates from a revised list instead. The affected (ousted) candidates challenged their termination in the High Court and won reinstatement, while other candidates who had scored even higher marks than the ousted group ("intervenors") separately sought appointment for themselves but were denied relief, mainly on the ground that no vacancies remained; both the State and the intervenors then appealed to the Supreme Court.
The Supreme Court upheld the reinstatement of the originally terminated candidates, relying on its earlier ruling in Vikas Pratap Singh, since these candidates were not personally responsible for the authorities' selection error, had completed training, and had already served for a considerable period. On the intervenors' claim, the Court held that although they had scored higher marks, they were not similarly situated to the reinstated candidates (who had already been appointed and served), and crucially, the original advertisement covered only 384 posts, all of which were already filled by candidates with even higher merit from the revised list, so the intervenors had no legal right to be appointed beyond the advertised vacancies. Both sets of appeals were therefore dismissed, upholding the High Court's judgment entirely.
Employees who are appointed due to no fault of their own, even if a selection process is later found flawed, can retain protection from termination once they have served for a meaningful period, but this protection does not extend to creating a right to appointment beyond the number of posts originally advertised, however meritorious a rejected candidate may be.
